Kategoriarkiv: Natural wines

Orange natural Catarratto with spicy fruitiness

Amber One Catarratto 2022 by Rallo SpA is a fruity orange wine from Sicily, the large island at the toe of Italy. The local white grape variety Catarratto is here made in a natural wine style with an orange slightly unclear colour. Sicily has a warm Mediterranean climate and a very long wine history, going back to the old Greek settlements there. Now Catarratto and the black grape variety Nero d’Avola are the the two most planted grape varieties.

Catarratto is a high yielding variety, giving wines with medium to high acidity and lemon and herbal notes. This wine, being natural in style, has been macerating with its skins – thereby creating the orange colour. This also adds a slight astringency and a light level of tannins, normally found in red wines which also macerate with the skins adding colour and tannins.

On the nose we find spice with hints of blossom, winter apples, straw, apricot and orange. The wine is dry and has medium (+) acidity and medium body. The alcohol level is 13 % abv. On the palate we find similar slightly spicy notes as on the nose, with slight astringency, hints of winter apples, dried herbs, flowers, apricot and orange peel.

This is a pleasant and well-balanced natural orange wine, with medium length and a texture that makes it very nice to pair with both vegetarian dishes, light meat dishes and poultry. We give it 81 points, and the price in Sweden at Systembolaget is 128 kr and the nr is 78514.

Hungarian Natural wine with spicy notes

There is a constant increase of green wines – organic, biodynamic and also so called natural wines. Natural wines do not, unlike organic wines, have any specific certifications – however there are a number of factors that most winegrowers agree on if they want to classify their wines as ”natural”. The vineyard should be organic or biodynamic, the yeast used should be ambient and a common phrase used is ”nothing added, nothing removed”. The grapes are hand harvested and a minimum of SO2 is added (often at bottling). Artisan practices like the use of amphorae is also common. We tasted the natural wine Sopron 2020, a blend of the black grape varieties Kekfrankos (Blaufränkisch in Austria) and Syrah, made by the Hungarian producer Weingut Weninger.

On the nose this wine has a pleasant note of violet, black cherries and plums as well as spice. The acidity is refreshing, and on the palate there are both red raspberries and black cherries, spices and chocolate notes. The tannins are soft and velvety. There is also a hint of licorice. This is a very nice wine to pair with food, both lighter meat and red meat with spicy flavors! Add potatoes roasted in the oven and spicy creamy sauces and you will understand why I give this wine 81 points!