Spring is here and that mean time to smell the Roses (and drink them too)! Here's a little guide to Rose wines.
Most Rose wines aren't sweet!
Let's get this common misconception out of the way. It's been 30+ years since the White Zinfandel craze of the 1980's when the sweet, pink stuff first created by Sutter Home Winery in the 1970's was everywhere, yet many Americans still assume that all Rosé wines are similar in style.
Aside from their color, today's Rosés bear little resemblance to American style White Zinfandel and are more similar to European style Rosés that have been spring and summer favorites across the Continent for centuries.
Thankfully that has changed over the last few years and we're finally catching on to the delicious and refreshing world of Rosé wines here in the US. For those who do like sweeter style wines, sweet White Zinfandels are still around but most Rosé wines you'll come across today are dry.
So What is a Rosé Wine?
As you may or may not know, all the color in a wine comes from the skins of the grape. Most grapes (with a few notable exceptions like Alicante Bouchet) have clear/white pulp and juice and the final color of a wine results from allowing the extracted grape juice (the "must") to soak on the skins. If you only let the must have a little contact with the skins, minutes to a couple hours, you'll end up with a Rosé, go for longer and you get a Red wine.
The sweetness of White Zinfandel comes from stopping the fermentation process early before all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Most other Rosés are allowed to ferment to complete or almost complete dryness and are wonderfully complex and delicious wines that are perfect for many occasions and go with an incredibly wide variety of foods. Rosé wines can, and are, made from almost every red skinned varietal you can think of and many are blends of multiple grapes.
How Rose Wines Are Made
Direct Press Method: This technique involves pressing the grapes immediately after harvest, allowing only minimal contact between the juice and the grape skins. The result is a pale, delicate rosé with light aromas and low tannins. This method is commonly used in regions like Provence, where winemakers aim for a crisp, fresh style of rosé.
Maceration Technique: In this method, the grapes are crushed and left to soak with their skins for a short period (usually 2 to 20 hours). This allows more color, flavor, and tannins to be extracted before the juice is pressed and fermented. Wines made with maceration tend to have deeper hues and richer flavors compared to direct press rosés.
Saignée Method ("Bleeding" Method): This technique involves bleeding off a portion of juice from a red wine fermentation early in the process. The removed juice is then fermented separately as rosé, while the remaining red wine becomes more concentrated. This method often results in deeper-colored, more intense rosés.
Blending Method: This is the simplest approach—mixing a small amount of red wine into white wine to create a pink hue. While this method is generally used for high-quality rosés, it can make delicious wines and is often used for sparkling rosé wines like Champagne.
Since Rosé wines are made from so many different grapes and is so many different wine regions, there is a Rosé for practically every occasion and cuisine. Red wine lovers looking for something cool an refreshing should look for darker Rosés like the style typically produced in Tavel, France. These hearty Rosés can stand up to all but the biggest and spiciest styles of dishes.
Lighter color Rosés are great to sip on by themselves or paired with salads, appetizers and simpler fare, where medium-dark Rosés are great with ham, tuna and salmon dishes or the types of fare usually paired with a lighter red.
So have fun this summer exploring the wide world of Rosé Wine!