Ay-unfiltered Orange Wine – Ay-Wines.

Before you even open this bottle of wine, there are three things that are definitely worth mentioning. For starters, this is an orange wine. No, this does not mean that the wine is made from oranges, but that it is a white wine made by leaving the skins and seeds from the grapes in contact with the juice. This causes the orange hue in the finished product. Secondly this orange wine is also produced on Dutch soil, with orange being the Dutch national color and all. The third interesting fact is the incredible story behind this particular wine.

Enough for now, let us taste this Ay-unfiltered orange wine, produced by VieVinVjenne in cooperation with Ay-Wines (Ayleen Charlotte) and Design & Wijn.

About Ayleen Charlotte

This wine is the result of the successful collaboration between Ayleen Charlotte and the very first pure natural vineyard in The Netherlands, VieVinVjenne.

Does the name Ayleen Charlotte ring a bell? This is definitely possible, because Ayleen appeared in the well-known Netflix documentary called ‘The Tinder Swindler’ in 2022. In her own words, Ayleen decided to turn her life-long entrepreneurial dream into reality after five years of misery of being a victim to the Tinder Swindler. Bravely, she managed to get out of her victimhood and to turn herself into a beacon of female empowerment.

Ayleen’s dream is to discover pure and unfiltered wines from Europe’s finest organic vineyards and we believe that she has definitely achieved this with her very first wine she has put to market – the AY Unfiltered Dutch Orange Wine.

Fun fact:

Each bottle has a ‘capsule’ that fits over the cork. If you pay close attention, there is actually a fun quote hidden on the other side of this capsule.

My bottle had the following quote: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and wine. Wine makes you stronger”. Considering Ayleen’s story, this quote definitely makes sense!

About the Winery

After years of dreaming about their very own vineyard and winery, Hermien & Marcel Oude Booyink took a leap of faith in 2007 by buying their own in Twente, in the East of The Netherlands. After 6 years of hard work and discarding all means that were not natural, they finally put their very first wine on sale and VieVinVjenne came to life.

Now, years later, VieVinVjenne is a renowned name in the Dutch wine world for making 100% natural wines. Whilst this is a true hype now, this vineyard was making them before this was hip and trendy, making them the real deal.

About the Wine

This orange wine is made from 100% Solaris grapes. This particular grape variety is very resistant to diseases, mildew, and colder climates, making it a very popular variety in Northern European countries such as The Netherlands.

As the name AY Unfiltered suggests, this wine is unfiltered and natural, which means that no pesticides were used and there are close to no sulfites. Additionally, Ay-Unfiltered has had 5 years of ripening in stainless steel tanks before bottling.

The result is a wine that is well-balanced, with aromas of citrus fruit such as orange and mandarin, marzipan and a hint of roses. There is a surprising smokiness to the wine and, quite common to the orange wines, there is also a slight but noticeable bitterness.

An aspect that also stands out is the tannins. This makes sense considering that the seeds and skins of the grapes were kept in contact with the juice, but it is also quite a unique experience if you are trying orange wine for the first time. After all, you are still tasting a white wine, which rarely has any tannins. For that matter the line “orange wine, the missing link between white & red” is quite fitting.

In our opinion, you will either love or hate orange wine, but as far as orange wines go, this is a very good example and we definitely love the story and passion behind it.

If you are interested in trying the wine for yourself, you will have to be quick. This particular orange wine was especially bottled for Ay-Wines, and only 650 bottles were made. Every bottle of wine gets delivered in a nicely presented box, making it a great gift as well.

This Ay-unfiltered orange wine is sold by Ay-Wines or associated resellers. This review is written by our own Liza Verbeek (Deliziouswines).

Price:                          €39,50

Taste date:                March 2023

Score:                         89/100 DWA Score

Website:                    Ay-Wines