Understanding Rose Wine

Rose wine, although consistently produced through the years, has never been considered great.

It has remained stuck between great red wines and great white wines, never able to break free.

However, this may be changing. Rose wines have been gaining more popularity and respect in the past few years.

Rosé is made one of three ways.

In the first method, crushed red-skinned grapes remain in contact with the juice for a short period of time.

The grape skins are discarded when the grapes are pressed, rather than left throughout fermentation as with red wine making. The longer the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the final wine.

The second method, known as bleeding the vats, is used to impart more tannin and color to a red wine by removing some pink juice from red wine vats at an early stage.

This removed juice is then fermented separately, producing the rosé as a by-product of the red wine.

Bleeding was the method used to produce the once very popular California White Zinfandel.

The third method is by blending, the simple mixing of red wine with white wine to impart color.

This method is discouraged in most wine growing regions and has even fallen out of vogue in Champagne, where it was once respected.

Over the years, rose wines produced in the United States have had a reputation as being too sweet.

However, this too is changing as United States producers begin to take another look at the true potential rosé has to be great.

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