Salamandre Orange, Chateau St. Cyrgues 2024

Salamandre Orange is Château St. Cyrgues' skin-contact white wine made from 100% Grenache Blanc, where the grapes macerate on their skins to extract colour, tannin, and texture. This is orange wine at its most approachable, showing what skin-contact winemaking can do when it's handled with care and restraint.

Château St. Cyrgues is a small estate in the Rhône working with minimal intervention and a focus on expressing the character of their terroir. The Mediterranean climate and granite soils create ideal conditions for Grenache Blanc, while the skin contact adds an extra dimension of complexity and grip.

What you get is a wine with real character – stone fruit, citrus peel, herbs, a touch of spice, and that distinctive phenolic grip from the skin contact. There's weight and texture here, but nothing feels heavy or overdone. The wine sits somewhere between a structured white and a light red, making it incredibly versatile with food.

The winemaking is straightforward – extended maceration on the skins, then fermentation and aging without interference. The result is a wine that's both interesting and genuinely drinkable, showing what orange wine can be when it's not taken to extremes.

Serve it cool (not cold) with rich fish dishes, roasted vegetables, Middle Eastern cuisine, charcuterie, or aged cheeses. The texture and grip make it work with dishes that would overwhelm a typical white wine. This is honest, approachable orange wine from the Rhône at a great price.