As the orange wine category slowly becomes more mainstream, it’s not surprising that someone would try to create a premium offering, and when Patrick Schmidt MW tasted just such a product, he was impressed.
Yes, the sparkling amber wine, costing over £100 (almost £200 in fact), is now available to buy and is the first truly premium orange wine bottled in a weighty, impressive bottle befitting a New World “icon”.
But is it “fine”? I think it is, in the sense of a wine with balance, complexity, strength and ageability — a type of liquid that leaves an immediate impression and a long-lasting feeling of refreshment and satisfaction.
Indeed, this is a wine with so many layers of textured flavors and complementary characteristics that it makes you smile and take another sip, and maybe even buy another bottle to cellar and try again in 10 years’ time.
The product is called Villa Soleya and is made by Languedoc winemaker Gerard Bertrand, who has focused on orange wines in recent years, producing a range from £10 (Naturae) to this top-priced wine, which sells for £174 on the producer’s website.
I’m writing this while tasting the 2022 vintage, Bertrand’s third release, which began from the 2020 harvest. I tasted it completely “blind” as part of the inaugural Orange Wine Masters in London last month, where Villa Soleil was judged by myself and a handful of other judges without any knowledge of the wine’s origins or varietal makeup.
Indeed, this wine was by far the most expensive of the nearly 30 wines tasted, but it received an average score of 97 points (out of 100) and was the best wine to secure the crown of the 2024 Orange Wine Master.
As I subsequently learned, the creation of Villa Soleil required a period of rigorous experimentation, motivated by Bertrand’s disappointment with most of the orange wines on the market, to create this wine and others of the same hue.
As he told db in an interview last month, after extensive tastings he found all but a few orange wines to be “too bitter, dry and tannic,” so he set out to create his own wine that not only had the right deep amber color, but also had the compelling characteristics to make you want to take another sip.
“The aim is to give it elegance, structure and complexity, without too much bitterness or tannins – the enemies of orange wine – as they make it dry,” he said, adding: “The secret is to pour it in a second glass. To have a second glass of orange wine requires a very delicate winemaking process.”
To achieve Villa Soleil’s finest wines, he “carefully selected six of the best plots of Roussanne, Viognier and Vermentino” at Bertrand’s biodynamic Château L’Hospitalet in La Clape.
Named after Villa Soleil, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea, this wine goes through several stages to develop its unique flavour, described below after a blind tasting at the Orange Wine Masters Competition.
The winemaking is complex, with each plot of vines being vinified separately and a variety of vessels, from oak barrels to clay and glass amphorae, being used for fermenting and ageing the wine.
The colour is gradually absorbed into the grape juice during the carbonic maceration process, in which the grapes are placed whole in barrels and kept at a temperature of 21-25°C.
The free-run juice is then bottled in French oak barrels, while the subsequent pressed juice is placed in amphorae and egg-shaped tanks made of stainless steel and wood.
There are multiple stages in winemaking, and one wonders if the influence of location and grape variety is evident in the final wine.
“There is definitely a terroir influence at Villa Soleil,” Bertrand said, adding, “It comes from very old vines of Roussanne, Viognier and Vermentino grown biodynamically on limestone soils close to the sea, resulting in low yields, high salinity and a low pH, which results in amazingly complex flavours.”
Still, Bertrand acknowledges that with orange wines, of course, the craftsmanship of the cellar is most evident.
“First is expertise, second is winemaking and third is terroir,” he said, listing in order of importance the influences on the style and quality of an orange wine like Villa Soleil.
Finally, how does Bertrand justify the high price of Villa Soleil, the world’s most expensive orange wine? The first justification has to do with rarity, with Bertrand telling db: “This wine is made from a selection of old vines on our estate, so we have a limited number of bottles. We only make between 8,000 and 12,000 bottles each year.”
Beyond this element, he adds, “It was important for us to create an iconic cuvée of orange wine. This wine deserved it, the category deserved a leader. A wine that will perform in the Grand Vin category. For wine lovers, it is important to have a benchmark like this.”
Finally, he adds, “Villa Soleya is a wine that can be aged for 10 to 30 years. It is a limited production boutique winery and belongs to the world of Clos de Lat and Clos du Temple,” his top-end red and rosé wines, respectively, both of which sell for as high a price as his premium orange wines.
In conclusion, he told db: “I wouldn’t say it’s expensive, but it is expensive. If you compare it to the finest Champagne cuvées, you’ll find it’s two to three times more expensive and five to six times more produced.”
Villa Soleil 2022: Blind Tasting, London, August 14, 2024
The wine is translucent with a deep amber glow and burnt orange rim. The nose is attractive and clean, with aromas of ripe orange, grapefruit peel, bergamot, burnt sugar and vanilla pods. The mouthfeel is oily, rich and almost sweet in character, but gently warms with a dry, finely gripping finish. The flavors are rich, with candied tangerine and dried apricots intermingling with caramel and hazelnut, cigar box, cedar and Earl Grey tea, followed by bitter lemon and lime peel, with a salty note enhancing the citrus acidity. A deliciously complex wine that is impossible not to drink. Dry, slightly bitter, salty and with a finely tannic edge, it complements the richness of the mouthful of yellow fruit and toasted marshmallow. In short, a benchmark in the orange wine category and a wine that will go with any drink. (Patrick Schmidt MW)
Related News
All medallists of the 2024 Global Orange Wine Masters
Why the future is bright, the future is orange wine
This Week in Pictures: August 10 – 16, 2024