Published July 25th, 2019
The spectacular summer of 2018 has led to a Cornish wine producer creating its first orange wine.
“Orion” is the first skin-fermented wine to be made by the team at Trevibban Mill in north Cornwall, with the hot, dry conditions last year producing grapes with a highly concentrated flavour.
Only 1,500 bottles of the orange wine have been produced, which has this month won a gold medal at the WineGB Awards 2019.
Engin Mumcuoglu, owner of Trevibban Mill, said: “The warm summer gave a high yield of ripe orion grapes which produced some very interesting juices. Our usual juice rate is 75%, but because of the dry weather this dropped to 60%, making the taste much more concentrated.
“We could have used the grapes to blend into our other wines, but we kept them separate to make something really outstanding which showcases our technical ability.
“Orion doesn’t taste like your usual white wine and almost has a sherry palate, so we’re thrilled the judges enjoyed it. With sparkling wines traditionally dominating the top spots in these awards, it’s great to see our still wine in the mix of gold medal winners.”
Made using ripe, aromatic orion grapes, the juice is fermented for seven days with the skins on – a method typically used to make red wine. The process extracts aromatic flavours and subtle tannins to give structure and body; the wine is slightly cloudy and contains spicy notes of dried apricots and orange peel, which pairs well with hard cheese, duck and goose.
Orion is Soil Association certified organic, with no added sulphites.
Trevibban Mill was established by husband and wife team Engin and Liz Mumcuoglu. In a complete career change, having come from backgrounds in telecoms and medical physics, they attended a two year course in viticulture and winemaking to learn about the process of wine production.
They purchased the land in 2007 and planted the vineyard in 2008, producing wine in their own onsite winery since 2014.
254 wines were entered into the WineGB Awards this year, considered by a panel of 12 judges at the Institute of Masters of Wine in London, chaired by Susie Barrie MW and Oz Clarke.
Judge Nik Darlington commented: “There were a huge number of really impressive still wines this year, especially from the 2018 vintage, and of those there were none more exciting for me than gold medal winning Trevibban Mill’s skin contact Orion.
“It’s just the sort of ambitious, complex, natural wine we should be making more of in this country. Heavily scented and multi-layered brilliance.”
The awards ceremony and trophy presentation took place on 23 July 2019 at Vintners’ Hall in London, compèred by Peter Richards MW.
Orion is available in Trevibban Mill’s wine shop and website, priced at £21.45 for a 75cl bottle. Its full range of products is available online and in select stores and restaurants throughout Cornwall.
For more information, visit http://trevibbanmill.com.
