Introducing: 2025 Orange Crush

My first attempt at an orange wine

Orange is the new white at Kapitel Zwei as I launch my first orange wine affectionately called “Orange Crush”, which is inspired by the 1988 R.E.M. song of the same name.

So what is orange wine you ask? Great question. It’s wine made using the same techniques as red wine, but with white grapes.

Still confused?

Don´t feel silly if you thought it’s wine made from the same fruit that you enjoy with vodka as a screwdriver or with breakfast in the morning. 🍊🍊🍊

Red wine gets its color from the reddish-purple skins of the grape. When the grapes are pressed the skins are left in contact with the juice and the compounds known as anthocyanins are released. Separate the skins quickly and you have rose or a light red wine, leave them on longer, and you have a more intense red wine. Still with me? For orange wine, it’s the same but with white grapes.

The Orange Crush grapes were harvested in September and with the help of my cousin Laura (see below) they were foot stomped. After the grapes are crushed we left the skins and the juice in the tank for about a week and this along with time and oxygen creates an orange/amber colored wine.

Orange Crush 2025

My first orange wine is 80% Riesling, 20% Müller Thurgau. The Riesling comes from two vineyards that I rented in Kremstal and Kamptal and the Müller, which is actually a 175-year-old Swiss grape variety, was purchased from my friends at Feldtheorie. According to the lab analysis the wine is exactly 12% alcohol and I think it smells like apricot marmalade with a tangerine-ginger taste.

Orange Crush is bottled in 500 ml stoneware bottles, which are inspired by the ancient kvevri used in Georgia to produce orange, or as they prefer, amber wine, 8,000 years ago.

If that sounds like something you would enjoy you can already put your name on the allocation list - no payment necessary. You can sign up here with just your name and email address. Each bottle is 17.50 (USD, EUR, CHF) and I will ship at the end of this year.

I expect to have 68 x 500 ml bottles, so it’s extremely limited. For those of you who have already asked to be on the allocation list, I have added you, so no need to fill out the form again.

My other two wines from the 2025 vintage are still resting in amphora for several more months — more details soon.

Back in the Vineyard

After a historically dry early spring, we have seen a bit of rainfall, but are still -22 mm below the 30 day average. I replaced around 20 Chenin vines that didn’t survive the winter, but in general bud break came and went and we are now waiting for the critical flowering stage, which produces the grape clusters we know and love.