On Sunday, November 5, Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Ave.) is hosting the Orange Glou Wine Fair, the first and only wine fair dedicated exclusively to natural orange wines in the United States.
The fair was founded last year by orange wine expert Doreen Winkler, who is a natural wine sommelier and founder of the world’s first orange wine subscription service called Orange Glou. Winkler also owns New York’s only wine store devoted exclusively to orange wines, located in Manhattan.
“While planning the fair this year, I knew I wanted to hold the event in Brooklyn, so I thought of the Wythe,” Winkler told Greenpointers. “The Wythe Hotel is my favorite hotel in Brooklyn. They have a private space with a garden that I love and thought it would be perfect for Orange Glou Fair.”
Winkler worked at local Scandinavian restaurant Aska, which used to be neighbors with the Wythe and is now located at 47 South 5th Street. While working at Aska, Winkler built a natural wine program that garnered rave reviews. Since Aska, Winkler has worked with several other restaurants in the city to create successful wine programs, and in 2016, she was named one of “America’s Top Sommeliers” by Forbes.
During the Orange Glou Wine Fair, attendees will have the chance to sample over 100 orange wines from over 35 wineries from around the world, including some that are available in the United States for the first time.
Fairgoers can also meet natural wine producers and learn about natural winemaking techniques and maceration styles. Some of the participating wineries include Yetti & The Kokonut, Donkey & Goat, Ruth Lewandowski, Lammidia, Pittnauer, Mother Rock, Donatus, Petr Marada, Domaine Brand, Costador, Weingut Heinrich, Nespor & Rajsky, and Andria Gvino.
Orange wine is made from white grapes whose skins stay in contact with the juice after pressing. The fair will showcase a range of orange wine styles, from fresh, juicy, light-skin contact wines to textured dark amber ones.
All of the wines at the fair have been selected by Winkler herself. To meet Winkler’s criteria, the grapes are grown by small-scale, independent producers and hand-picked from organic or biodynamic vineyards. The wine must be fermented with indigenous yeasts and contain no additives or new oak aging. They must be unfiltered and unfixed wines and contain no or a small amount of sulfites.
The Orange Glou Wine Fair is divided into two sessions. The first is 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., and the second is 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Tickets are $55 for the first session and $49 for the second session and include a signature Orange Glou wine tasting glass to keep.