This week, I had quite a few comments about orange wine after posting my “Orange wine is the new rosé” shirt. Some good and inquisitive, some VERY opinionated (overly opinionated, if you ask MY opinion). In celebration of National Orange Wine Day, I wanted to highlight a new orange wine (to me) that was delicious.

I received Tears of Vulcan 2018 from 305 Wines just in time for the holiday. The label is super funky and clearly caters to Millennials. It’s overly illustrated and highlights Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. Vulcan was born extremely ugly. His mother, Juno, tried to throw him off a cliff, but failed to kill her son. Instead, she put him in a volcano and told him to stay there for most of his young life. She couldn’t imagine that her young son would grow to be a talented blacksmith for all the gods and goddesses of Olympus. You can read more about the mythology here.

That afternoon, I worked out for a couple of hours with my friend Maritza, so we stopped by my house to reward our efforts, sweats and all, and have a fun wine night. We felt super swole, so it was totally appropriate to have a wine with an extremely fit god on it. I’ve had many orange – skin contact – wines, but never had one that was SO orange in color – they’ve been deep amber at best. This was my first ah-ha yasssss, moment.

Now here is the super geeky part, so skip it if you don’t care: the wine is made of 44% Viognier, 36% Pinot Gris, and 20% Muscat. It’s 12.5% alcohol, 3.6 pH. Made from Le Beau and Nemarniki Vineyards in Chehalem Mountains AVA in Oregon. Vines grew in volcanic soils and some silty Missoula floods deposits. All of the fruit was destemmed and co-fermented in a 1.5 ton open top fermenter, two punch downs per day. Once the fruit was dry the skins were pressed off and all of the wine was put into wood. 1/3 of it went into a once used Russian oak puncheon with Acacia heads, and 2/3 went into neutral French oak. 10 months aging.

Despite the masculine label, winemaker Brianne Day is producing extraordinary wine and leading the natural wine movement in Oregon. And if you all know me, you know I’m all about female empowerment, so this is right up my alley! You can read more about her story here.

The wine was so orange – the most color I’ve ever had before. The wine had a relatively light aroma with notes of grapefruit and orange blossom. On the palate, it was pretty smooth, not super funky like others I’ve had from Friuli or Slovenia, with notes of citrus rind, honeydew, apricot, and light tannins. My non-wine friend really enjoyed it and we finished the bottle with some grilled chicken, kale Asian salad, and roasted veggies. I saw the wine on 305 Wines for $33.99. I seriously want more.

Happy National Orange Wine Day!