Cramele Recas Solara Orange vs Meursault, Les Criots, Jean-Philippe Fichet, Burgundy 2024

Cramele Recas Solara Orange

Solara is a natural, minimal intervention Orange Wine from Cramele Recas, one of Romania's most celebrated modern wineries. Founded in 1988 and transformed by Philip Cox and his Romanian wife Elvira, Recas combines old-vine character with state-of-the-art facilities to produce innovative wines that consistently over-deliver. Solara is bottled without filtration or additional sulphur, preserving the purity and freshness of the wine in its most natural form. Why You'll Love It This is orange wine of real complexity and refinement. The combination of clay amphorae and stainless steel maceration, followed by light ageing in one-year-old French barriques, produces a wine that is structured yet vibrant, with elegant stone fruit character and firm, textured tannins. A fresh, pure and genuinely distinctive expression of Romanian winemaking. Vineyard and Production. Grapes are hand-harvested from mountainous terrain that provides a distinctive microclimate and natural elevation, encouraging even ripening and enhancing aromatic complexity. After destemming and light crushing, the wine undergoes 3.5 weeks of maceration with full skin contact at low temperatures, completing 100% malolactic fermentation. Twenty percent of the maceration takes place in clay amphorae, with the remaining 80% in stainless steel. After blending, the wine is lightly aged for two months in one-year-old French barriques, followed by natural cold stabilisation and bottling without filtration or additional sulphur. Tasting Notes. Dark straw in colour with subtle orange hints. The nose is a delicate mix of quince, poire William and a touch of vanilla. The palate is complex and structured, with elegant stone fruit flavours supported by firm tannins and a long, refined finish. Perfect Pairings. An excellent match for hard and semi-hard cheeses, turbot and tuna steak. Also well suited to roast chicken, charcuterie and dishes with rich, umami-driven sauces. Grape Varieties. Riesling, Muscat Ottonel and field b