Fiegl Dai Dai Skin Contact / 2025 / 750mL

The Fiegl Dai Dai Skin Contact 2025 is a textural orange wine from Friuli in Italy's north-east, where skin-fermented whites are part of the local grammar rather than a novelty. Expect amber-tinged colour, gentle grip and a savoury edge that sets it apart from a conventional white.

Aromatically it leans towards dried apricot, quince paste and orange peel, with a nutty, tea-leaf note that emerges as the wine opens. There is a faint waft of dried herbs and beeswax underneath.

The palate is dry and firmly structured, with tannin from the skins giving a light chew across the middle. Stone fruit and citrus pith carry the flavour, acidity keeps it moving, and the finish is long and a touch bitter in the way good skin contact should be. At 12.5% it stays light on its feet.

Serve it cool rather than cold, and give it food with some salt and fat: prosciutto and melon, roast chicken with lemon, grilled octopus, or a board of washed-rind and hard alpine cheeses. It also holds up to spice better than most whites, so Thai and Middle Eastern dishes are fair game.

Drink from now through to around 2030, with a decant or an hour in the glass helping the younger bottles show their best.