Drinks of the Month

Cramele Recas Orange Wine

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on August 11 2018 at 08:41

If you thought orange wine was the exclusive province of hipster natural wine bars, think again - one has just gone on sale in Aldi. And while most cost nearer £20 than £10 this one is on sale at a very affordable £5.99.

Just to make sure they tick every conceivable box and underline the message that this is bang on trend the label also points out that it’s a natural wine and vegan wine with no added sugar, yeasts or sulphur (more accurately, sulphites) and is ‘made naturally in 2017’ (There is however a pretty helpful description of what orange wine actually is on the back label.)

Will you like it? Should you buy it? Depends if you’ve ever tried an orange wine before.

If you haven’t - and I guess most won’t - it’s an fairly unscary introduction to the style - quite light, despite its 13% ABV - not overly fruity (the taste is of dried apricot rather than the orange you might expect), basically a medium-bodied, very dry white wine. (I’d suggest something simple with it like grilled aubergines and hummus rather than the recommended Thai green curry).

If you’re already an orange wine fan you may find it a bit underwhelming though you can’t quarrel with the price. M & S does a better job with their Georgian Tblvino Qvevris though this is now £10 a bottle. (Aldi’s comes from Romania)

Anyway at this price it’s certainly worth a punt if you can find it in your local store. Try it and let me know what you think.

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