Our Top 5 Orange Wines to Drink this Summer

Summer is here and we get to experience that incredible joy of drinking beautiful wine in the sun. It can't be beaten! Orange wine has been all the rage for years now but it sometimes comes to people's surprise that skin contact wines are not all juicy, thirst quenching bottles that go down easily. Many are more savoury, deep and tannic. With that in mind, here are our top 5 orange cuvées that stay on the fruity side of things and are best enjoyed on a Summer's day...

5. Nuria 2023 - by Lucy Chilvers - Penedès, Catalunya

Winner at a recent evening of Highbury Library Wine Club, Lucy's brilliantly balanced blend of Xarel Lo and Moscatel really hits the spot. It has clean, mineral notes paired with bright, tropical fruit and floral aromatics. Fresh and easy going but still with a delicate complexity, this is a versatile wine that you can have with or without food. 

4. Red Label 2022 by Tanca Nica - Pantelleria, Italy

If you want something really special, and don't mind splashing out, then this one is for you. From a single plot of Zibibbo (the local name for Muscat) vines on the remote island of Pantelleria comes this deep and complex wine by esteemed producers Tanca Nica. They produce 4 "top cuvées" each year and this is one of them. Full bodied and food ready with profound stone fruit flavours, herbal notes and dried flowers, this is something to savour!

3. Favonio 2022 - by Tenuta Foresto - Piedmont, Italy

This has been a Highbury Library staple for many vintages now and yet it just keeps getting better. Our friend Raph often describes aromatic skin contact wine as the gateway for many natural wine lovers and this sums Favonio up perfectly. It's precise but with a subtle wild edge and refreshing notes of apricot and pink grapefruit. Such great value as always from Tenuta Foresto. Another winner of the vote at a previous Highbury Library Wine Club evening by the way!

2. Sota Els Ametllers 2023 - by La Salada - Penedès, Catalunya

Another of our favourite wines for many years now and that shows no sign of changing. From Toni Carbo and Anna Serra aka La Salada, this is made from a single plot of Malvasia de Sitges (a rare local clone of the famous variety) grapes that sits underneath an Almond tree (the name of wine translates as this in Catalan). Two weeks of skin contact helps produce a magnificent wine full of peaches, apricots, citrus, flowers and even a touch of blueberry! So unique and unmistakably Catalan, this is a special wine that all natural wine fans should get to know about.

1. Zardalou 2022 by l'Eau du Nenuphar - Roussillon, France

Really representative of the wild and rugged terrain from which it originates, Zardalou is an awesome skin contact wine made from a combination of Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Grenache Gris grapes. Winemaker Alex Langlois produces rustic bottles full of energy and life, and this is the best of the bunch. Textured and skinsy with bright tropical fruit, it's a 5 on the Wild Scale but don't be afraid! At such a great price, this our top pick of Summer 2025!

Happy drinking!