ROSé

A 'Rosé' (From French: "Rosé", Pinkish) is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.

Contents

Production

Skin contact

Saignée

Blending

Styles

See also

References

Production

There are three major ways to produce rosé wine

Skin contact

The first is used when rosé wine is the primary product.
Red-skinned grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for a short period . The grapes are then pressed, and the skins are discarded rather than left in contact throughout fermentation as with red wine making..Because the skins contain much of the strongly flavoured tannin and other compounds, this leaves the wine tasting more similar to a white wine. . The longer that the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the final wine. .

Saignée

The second way called ''saignée'', or bleeding, is used when the winemaker desires to impart more tannin and color to a red wine, and removes some pink juice from the must at an early stage, in a process known as bleeding the vats. . The removed juice is then fermented separately, producing the rosé as a by-product of the red wine, which is intensified as a result of the bleeding, because the volume of juice in the must is reduced, and the must involved in the maceration is concentrated. .

Blending

The third method, the simple adding of red wine to a white to impart color, is discouraged in most wine growing regions now except for Champagne. Even in Champagne many producers do not use this method .

Styles

Historically rosé was quite a delicate, dry wine, exemplified by Anjou rosé from the Loire. . In fact the original claret was a pale ('clairet') wine from Bordeaux that would probably now be described as a rosé. .
After the Second World War, there was a fashion for medium-sweet rosés for mass-market consumption. , the classic examples being Mateus Rosé and American "blush" wines. .
The pendulum now seems to be swinging back towards a drier, 'bigger' style. . These wines are made from Rhone grapes like Syrah, in hotter regions such as the Languedoc and Australia. . In France, rosé has now exceeded white wines in sales. ^[1] In the United States a record 2005 California crop has resulted in an increased production and proliferation of varietals used for rosés, as winemakers chose to make rosé rather than leave their reds unsold.^[2] U.S. consumers are also becoming more open to the wine^[2], despite a stigma which resulted from the ubiquity of punchy White Zinfandels.
'Weißherbst' is a type of German rosé made from only one variety of grape. .

See also

★ Wine

References

1. Voss, Roger [Rosés for Summer Sipping] Wine Enthusiast Online July 2007
2. Heimoff, Steve [Rosés for Summer Sipping] Wine Enthusiast Online July 2007
3. Heimoff, Steve [Rosés for Summer Sipping] Wine Enthusiast Online July 2007


★ German Weißherbst

★ Drinking Rosé in the Summer

★ Rosé Wines in UK from Wine of Course