I recently bought a couple bottles of white Cornelissens. These can be very difficult to find because the production is tiny: IIRC about 2000 bottles per year. I have sometimes commented on a certain sameness in orange wines. But I have also hypothesized that it might simply be because even though I try to drink them a lot, I don't have as much exposure to them as I have with "conventional" whites. And exposure always helps to clarify or even create differences. So I did what logically should be done and opened both wines to try side by side. If there were such drastic differences between two vintages of a single wine, surely there must be as great or greater differences in the whole field of orange wine?
Cornelissen MunJebel Bianco 7
i.e. of the 2010 vintage; 13% abv. Cloudy, dark orange colour though I had stood it up for a couple days before opening. Explosively aromatic, exotically perfumed yet not at all cloyingly sweet aroma. (I learned after this tasting when googling that 2010 had a bit of botrytis which might explain the exotic perfume.) Tannic, sweetly fruity, pleasantly astringent - perhaps a touch of VA, too. A wine that divided opinions but I loved it.
Cornelissen MunJebel Bianco 8
i.e. of the 2011 vintage; 13,5% abv; 70% Grecanico Dorato, 15% Cattaratto, 10% Carricante, 5% Coda di Volpe. A gentle wine - but only when compared to the 2010 - and much more mainstream. In fact, if one doesn't see the hazy orange colour, I suspect no one would have to make snide remarks about "natural" wine. A lovely, ripe and sweet aroma of peaches; slightly tannic but wonderfully acidic and mineral so it isn't just a fruit forward simple drop. A wine that didn't divide opinions: everyone liked it.
I really couldn't decide which I preferred: the 2010 was wild and funky and exciting; the 2011 was ripe and almost mainstream but also fantastic.