By: Ed "The Wine Guy"
The sale of Rosé wines has almost tripled in the last three years. My earliest memory of Rosé wine is Mateus and Lancers, both from Portugal. Mateus, once the world's most popular wine, is a light, fresh, young, moderately sweet, and slightly-sparkling wine; in the late 70s, one million (1,000,000) cases of Lancers were sold in the United States alone. Now, there are numerous Roséwines available to us, but the vast majority of them are produced by the same method. Most wine grapes, independent of the color of their skin, produce clear or colorless juice. For a Rosé wine, the juice is allowed to remain in contact with the red skins (1 - 3 days) until a certain color is attained; the longer the contact, the deeper the color. Another, less-used method of producing a Rose' wine is to add a small amount of red wine to color up an already-made white wine. For instance, a Riesling can be made into a Rosé by adding a quantity of Cabernet Sauvignon wine or any other red wine.
Using Cabernet Sauvignon as an example, Rosé wines have been called Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon Blush, White Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc; the different names refer to the same wine. White Zinfandel is, in essence, a Rosé wine. There was a time - not too many years ago - that if a liquor store didn't sell White Zinfandel and Budweiser, it couldn't pay the rent/mortgage. Times have changed. Historically, Rosé wines in the United States were sweet, but tastes have changed, and the majority of people now prefer a dry (not sweet) Rosé after the manner of wines from the Provence area of France. There is nothing more refreshing, nothing more satisfying, than a glass or two of a good Rosé, Whispering Angel, for example,while sitting on the deck on a hot summer day, and eating a fresh tossed salad.
NOTE: Remember the fermentation process/equation: yeast (naturally-occurring or cultured) + sweet juice (sugar) = alcohol, sulfites, and carbon dioxide (bubbles which are captured for sparkling wines, which are released for still [non-sparkling] wines). Clear as mud? But if the fermentation process is understood, you'll be able to think about and talk about wine intelligently, and buy exactly what you want.
Using Cabernet Sauvignon as an example, Rosé wines have been called Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon Blush, White Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc; the different names refer to the same wine. White Zinfandel is, in essence, a Rosé wine. There was a time - not too many years ago - that if a liquor store didn't sell White Zinfandel and Budweiser, it couldn't pay the rent/mortgage. Times have changed. Historically, Rosé wines in the United States were sweet, but tastes have changed, and the majority of people now prefer a dry (not sweet) Rosé after the manner of wines from the Provence area of France. There is nothing more refreshing, nothing more satisfying, than a glass or two of a good Rosé, Whispering Angel, for example,while sitting on the deck on a hot summer day, and eating a fresh tossed salad.
NOTE: Remember the fermentation process/equation: yeast (naturally-occurring or cultured) + sweet juice (sugar) = alcohol, sulfites, and carbon dioxide (bubbles which are captured for sparkling wines, which are released for still [non-sparkling] wines). Clear as mud? But if the fermentation process is understood, you'll be able to think about and talk about wine intelligently, and buy exactly what you want.