Rosé is a pink wine that has shot to popularity in recent years as a must-have summer-time drink (or a year-round favorite for some people), but did you know it’s one of the oldest types of wine ever made?
How to Make Rosé Wine
Rosé is crafted from red grapes and produced similarly to red wine, but with reduced time fermenting with grape skins. This reduced skin contact gives rosé a pink hue and lighter flavor than a red wine.
While crafted from red grapes, rosé is often a blended wine made from a myriad of different wine grapes, including primarily Grenache grapes and other varietals such as Syrah and Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and more. At VinoDivino, our rosé wines are made with an assortment of wine grapes for a variety of flavors.
Maceration Method
The most common type of rosé we see available are crafted using the maceration method. This method is when red wine grapes are left to rest, or macerate, in the juice for some time, and afterward, the entire batch of juice is finished into a rosé wine. This produces darker-colored wine with a more decadent flavor.
Saignée or “Bled” Method
The Saignée method is used during the first few hours of making red wine. Some of the juice is bled off and put into a new vat to make rosé. The purpose of bleeding off the juice is to produce a lovely rosé and concentrate the red wines’ intensity. Due to its complex production method, saignée wines are pretty rare and only make up about 10% or less of a winery’s production.
Blending Method
The blending method is when a little bit of red wine is added to a vat of white wine to make rosé, producing a wide range of light to heavier wines. Since it doesn’t take much red wine to dye a white wine pink, rosés will usually have only up to 5% or so of red wine added. This method is very uncommon with still rosé wines but happens much more in sparkling wine regions such as Champagne.
Tastes of Rosé
The primary flavors in rose are red fruits such as strawberries, melons such as honeydew, floral notes such as rose petals, citrus, and green flavors such as celery and rhubarb.
At VinoDivino, our favorite rosé with strong notes of red fruits, particularly strawberries, is our Giorgi NV Sparkling Rosé. A strawberry danish in a glass, this sweet wine boasts aromas of cream and brioche and delivers lively flavors of ripe strawberry and hints of lemon.
For a rosé that covers both the floral and citrus notes is our Chateau Mourgues du Gres 2020 “Les Galets Roses.” This wine feels like the first day of spring and is floral, elegant, and light with bright notes of fresh raspberries and a hint of citrus.
About VinoDivino
Whether you’re late for a dinner party and just need to grab a nice chardonnay or your wine rack is empty, and you’ve got time to browse, we believe shopping for wine should be just as enjoyable as drinking it. Part of the fun is discovering new and exciting wines from up-and-coming regions and emerging winemakers. Our knowledgeable staff is ready to put their knowledge and passion to work for you to find you the perfect bottle of wine.
