The first time most people try orange wine, they’re not sure what to make of it. It looks different — amber, gold, sometimes almost copper. It smells different. It tastes different. It might remind you of stone fruit, dried apricot, a little tannin, something you can’t quite name.
That reaction is the point.
So What Is It?
Orange wine is white wine made like red wine. That’s it.
When you make conventional white wine, you press the grapes and remove the skins almost immediately. The juice ferments alone. The result is light, clean, and transparent — in color and in character.
With orange wine, the skins stay in contact with the juice during fermentation. Days, weeks, sometimes months. The skins give the wine its color, its structure, its tannins. Everything the grape was holding onto ends up in the glass.
It’s not a new idea. Georgia (the country) has been making wine this way in clay vessels called qvevri for 8,000 years. What’s new is that winemakers in California and around the world started caring about it again.
The PAMEC Amber Vermentino
Our skin-contact wine starts with Vermentino — a Mediterranean white grape that does something interesting in Southern California’s climate. Extended skin contact gives it the amber color and the grip. What comes out is earthy, a little funky in the best way, with dried citrus and a long finish.
It’s made without additives. No commercial yeasts, no fining agents, nothing added. The grape, the skin, time, and a little patience.
It pairs well with food — charcuterie, aged cheese, anything with salt and umami. But it also holds up on its own, especially when the weather is warm and you have nowhere to be.
Is Orange Wine Natural?
Not always — but ours is. Skin contact is a technique, not a philosophy. There are orange wines made with additives, commercial yeasts, and heavy intervention.
PAMEC makes natural wine. Every bottle we produce — including the Amber Vermentino — follows the same principle: minimal intervention from vine to bottle. What the grape gives us is what you get.
Come Try One
PAMEC Patio is in Old Town Temecula at 28522 Old Town Front St. We’re open Thursday–Sunday. If you’ve never had an orange wine, start with the Amber Vermentino. It’s the one people ask about most.
And if you love it, the Cork Collector wine club ships quarterly — natural wine from Temecula, straight to your door.
