Now Drinking: Field Recordings Tang

The name Field Recordings evokes audio recordings in nature, ethnomusicologists putting little known songs to tape, and experimental musicians capturing found sound. These musical qualities come to life in Field Recordings wine—liberal sampling from vineyards over California’s Central Coast, explorations of tone and timbre, and a fearlessly experimental attitude. Just like a trusted record label, when I see a new bottle of FR, I pick it up no matter what.

And Tang is one I get really excited about. They call it a “Sparkling White Wine Piquette”—essentially it’s a lightly sparkling orange wine. They refer to it as “wine tea” because it’s made with the rehydrated skins of Skins, their funky orange wine. This isn’t made up:

“Literally, we have turned water into wine on this cellar experiment. Piquette was a way to meet the needs of the people during the late 1800s wine blight in France. By taking the pressed skins and rehydrating them with well water, you create a low-alcohol tea with all of the leftover flavor bound up in the dried skins. After repressing the skins 7 days later, we get a light and refreshing low alcohol elixir. We add a little of our finished table wine for acidity and stability and then bottle. The leftover sugars and native yeast then go to work giving the finished wine a light sparkle.”

For those taking notes, that’s a low alcohol (7.1%) wine-like beverage made from rehydrating the skins of Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris and Albariño grapes. Notes of cantaloupe, pear cider, lemon zest and orchid flowers with a subtle spritziness.

An easygoing sipper, from an era where drinking was more commonplace throughout the day. If that “piquettes” your interest, better get sampling before it’s gone.