Grape & Grain | The trendy wines of 2016: natural, orange, new wave Aussie, English sparkling, and more

Sparkling wine and rosé are setting the world on fire, and beneath the surface froth you’ll find some unusual varieties and creative producers. I asked some of the world’s leading wine experts to share a few of their favourite trends. From New York to London, Kansas to Tokyo, let their tips guide you on your next wine adventure

Master of Wine Jancis Robinson influences an audience of millions through her books, columns, the JancisRobinson.com website and social media. She says the hottest trends in the UK this year are natural and orange wines (an orange wine is often “natural”, but not always). New to most, modern-day orange wine is made by leaving white wine grape juice in contact with the grape skins and seeds to produce an amber tint.

Amber- or orange-wine styles have been reinvigorated in the last two decades, but have roots that date back thousands of years to the cradle of wine civilisation – Georgia. Californian wine educator, Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan MW describes orange wine as intellectual and highlights Montefalco’s Paolo Bea Santa Chiara as a standout example: “It has so many layers of flavours, it goes on forever,” she says.

As the name suggests, natural wines (orange and otherwise) are produced organically, with very few protective additives, sometimes to their detriment when travelling long distances. New York-based MW Mary Gorman-McAdams says the natural wine trend is part of the growing appeal of organic and biodynamic wines.

Japan is another market embracing all things natural. “The popularity of New World natural wine is on the rise in Japan this year, a trend I look forward to sharing,” says Kenichi Ohashi MW, a Tokyo-based wine and sake expert. “But daring drinkers might be more enticed by eastern European natural wines from Bulgaria and Slovakia.”

Wines from Greece, another of its historic heartlands, is also making a comeback. “To a particularly adventurous wine enthusiast, I would recommend assyrtiko,” says Robinson. Assyrtiko is a dry, minerally white wine produced on the whitewashed island of Santorini.

Doug Frost, an author and broadcaster based in Kansas City, who is a Master Sommelier in addition to being an MW, says the rising popularity of assyrtiko is a sign of wine drinkers’ growing confidence. “Wine buyers are no longer intimidated by a grape name they can’t pronounce,” he says. “They want to try new and unknown grape varieties, and that open the door to a host of countries with wine legacies and histories, like Greece, Portugal and even Turkey.”