There has been some confusion over ‘orange’ wines commonly made in France and Georgia, which take their name from the colour achieved by extended skin contact and wines from the Australian wine region with a registered geographical indication.
To clear things up, the Ozzy trade body, Wine Australia, has issued a message to producers clarifying the use of the word ‘orange’ for wines not produced in the region of Orange in New South Wales.
Wine Australia advises that when used to describe the colour of a wine, the context must be made absolutely clear by stating, for example, ‘wine of orange hue’, rather than simply ‘orange wine’.
It is an offence under the Wine Australia Corporation Act to include the geographical indication ‘orange’ in the description and present-ation of wine, when the wine does not originate in the indicated region. The Orange Region Vignerons Association welcomed the move by Wine Australia.