An old thought process here in the South is that pink wine is sweet and the people drinking it are often times college-aged women purchasing Sutter Home or Beringer White Zinfandel - while the guys are drinking their  Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, and/or Miller Lite. We all have been down this road of beliefs. While there is nothing wrong with drinking White Zinfandel (and I myself have had a bottle or two), there is such a broader universe to Pink Wine.

Rosés have been produced for a long time and are for the most part (characteristically) bone dry. Traditionally, there are three different ways to produce Rosés: Skin Contact, Saignée, & Blending.
Skin Contact:
This process is primarily used when Rosé wine is the main product intentionally being produced. During this process the red grapes are crushed and then sent to a tank to settle (juice, skins, everything). The skins are the part of the grape that make red wine red in color. If you are making red wine usually the juice and skins would sit in the tank for about 2 weeks give or take a few days. But the Rosé juice being produced using this method, is only in contact with the skins for about 2 to 3 days. It is then pumped off  into another tank to be fermented and turned into Rosé wine - which tends to be pale pink in color and softly fragrant.
Saignée:
Everything starts the same as in the Skin Contact method, but the difference is that the main product intentionally being produced is actually red wine. The Rosé ends up simply being the by-product of the winery setting out to make a big, rich, intense red wine. The idea is that if a winery pumps off some juice from the tank to reduce the juice-to-skin contact, then it makes a deeper, richer red wine. But they have to figure out what to do with the left-over juice that was pumped out of the tank. This is what the wineries make the Rosé from. The wine tends to be more electric pink in color and takes on more of the character of the variety that they were oringially intending to produce. For example, if they were producing a Syrah, then the Rosé would be Syrah-like.
Blending:
Blending is not a widely used method, but it seems to be causing some heated issues with our friends across the pond. Blending is when the wineries take a red wine and a white wine, and blend the two together to make a certain style of Rosé (dry, semi-sweet, etc.). Recently the EU has decided that it is legal to use the Blending method and label the wine a Rosé, but the French seem to see it a different way. To read more about the controversy, check out a recent article highlighting this issue, here. 

Rosés offer a great alternative to people who want to explore something new and different instead of just drinking whites. Rosés go with almost any food that you would normally pair with a white wine, from fresh fruit to grilled meats (and everything in-between). I love Rosés in the spring and summertime.

Now the question is - What do you think? Have you tried a Rosé before? If yes, what is your favorite? Also, what do you think about the issues “over the pond” with the labeling and production of Rosés?

Let’s get this blog-versation going…

Cheers,

Daryl