A Rosé is a Rosé is a Rosé…or is it?
It was 1972 when Sutter Home Winery’s
Bob Trinchero attempted to intensify his dark red Zinfandels using an
Old World trick of drawing off some of the just-pressed juice,
leaving a much higher ratio of skins in the remaining macerating
must. The drawn-off juice was fermented as white wine, but showed a
slight pink-amber color cast, similar to that which Europeans call
Oeil de Perdrix (Eye of the Partridge). That, in fact, is what
Trinchero named his creation: Oeil de Perdrix. It was a light
pink, fruity, off-dry, refreshing wine, and it was very soon a smash
hit with North American consumers. Sebastiani followed suit with “Eye
of the Pidgeon,” but the public didn’t seem as impressed with the
bird’s-eye names as they were with the wine itself. By the late
1980s Sutter Home’s renamed “White Zinfandel” had become the
most popular premium wine in the United States. It spawned a whole
generation of folks who believe that all Zinfandel is “white.” It
also added a new term for pink wines to our vocabulary: “blush.”
Today, supermarket shelves are filled
with “blush” wines—white Zins, white Merlots, white Cabs—that
no longer aim for that delicate pink blush, but often sport the
blazingly bright red tones of a tart’s lipstick. Rather than being
dry or slightly off-dry and fruity, as pink wines have traditionally
been, these new pinks tend to range from somewhat sweet to positively
cloying. These wines often carry the reputation of being “wines for
people who don’t like wine.” But there are also some real gems
there.
In Europe, the old traditions continue.
Dry or off-dry, light pink wines are the ones that carry the names
“vin gris” (meaning “grey wine”), “blanc de noir”
(“white from black”), “rosé,” “rosado,” or
“rosato”. They are often very inexpensive, everyday
wines—Mateus and Lancer’s can each still be bought for about $US
6.00—but they can also be very deluxe, indeed. Consider, for
instance, a ’97 Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne Rosé will set you
back about $US150.00. Rosés are made nearly everywhere that red wine
grapes are grown.
While most Old Word pink wines
are meant to be drunk while young and fresh, that is not always the
case. Rosé Champagne may be bottle aged on its lees at the winery
for five years before it is clarified and released. Vins gris
are sometimes aged in oak and may be matured in the bottle for some
years before they are ready to drink.
Some pink wines are known for their
sparkle: from zillions of bubbles in Rosé Champagne to the more
lightly spritzy wines like Lancer’s. The latter are called
petillant or cremant in France or frizzante in
Italy. The vast majority of rosés, however, are still wines.
Grapes for Rosé
With a few exceptions, rosé wines are
made from red grapes rather than from blends of white and red grapes.
The principal exceptions are some mass-market California blush wines,
and rosé champagne, which is made by adding a bit of red Pinot Noir
or Meunier to a white base wine. Sometimes “blanc de noir”
Champagne, which is made entirely from Pinot Noir, has a very slight
blush of pink.
In the Loire Valley of Northern France,
rosé wines are made primarily from the Groslot, Cabernet Franc, and
Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The best-known Loire rosés are off-dry,
fruity wines from Anjou and Saumur. The south of France, including
the Southern Rhone Valley, Provence, and Languedoc-Roussillon,
produces oceans of pink wines made primarily from Grenache grapes,
often blended with some Syrah, Carignan and Mourvèdre as well.
In Italy, nearly every type of red
grape grown is made into some pink wine, or rosato. These
include Canaiolo, Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Anglianico, Barbera,
Cabernet Franc, Merlot, etc. Pink wines can be found in all of
Italy’s winemaking districts. The same can be said of the Iberian
Peninsula, of course, where pink wines are likewise made from a
variety of grapes. Perennial favorites, however, are rosado
wines of Spain’s Navarre Province, made from Garnacha (Grenache)
grapes. Good pink wines based on Tempranillo are made in the famed
Rioja wine district, as well. Spain also produces some very good, and
very reasonably priced Cava rosado, or pink bubbly, especially
in the Penedés region south of Barcelona.
Besides the deluge of white Zinfandels
and White Merlots, California produces some good traditional pink
wines from Grenache, Gamay, Gringolino, and the two Cabernets. There
are also a lot of generic rosés from the state, mostly sweet, made
from various Central Valley grapes.
How Rosé is made
While there are a few red-skinned
grapes that have pink-tinged juice, most do not. That is why it is
possible to make white and pink wines from red grapes. Once the
grapes are crushed, however, the secret for making a white or lightly
colored blush wine is to remove the juice from the skins, stems and
seeds as quickly as possible. Such a wine can be called blanc de
noir, or “white from red,” a term that is usually reserved
for Champagne-like sparkling wines made entirely from Pinot Noir.
By allowing the juice and skins to
macerate together for a while longer, the winemaker achieves greater
levels of color in the juice. If the primary product is a pink wine,
then, once the pressing is completed, the grape skins may be
discarded or recycled for feed or fertilizer. Traditionally, these
skins were often placed in sugar water to ferment and become
“piquette,” a tart, lightly alcoholic beverage often served to
children. More typically, however, one batch of red grapes is
destined to make both a red and a pink wine. After the grapes have
been crushed and allowed to macerate for a short time, part of the
juice is drawn off and fermented in the same manner as white wine.
This will become the rosé. The remaining juice continues to macerate
with the skins throughout fermentation (and, perhaps, through a
period of extended maceration). By reducing the juice-to-skins ratio,
a more extracted wine will result, with deeper coloring, and depth of
flavor, as well as fuller body from increased tannins. In this case,
pink wine is a byproduct of making a dark red.
Finally, as I noted earlier, there are
some pink wines made by either adding small amounts of red grapes to
fermenter, or, more commonly, by simply adding red wine to the
finished white wine. This latter method is used for some of the
cheapest and least interesting pinks—jug wines from California’s
Central Valley—as well as for some of the world’s finest: rosé
Champagne.
Styles of Rosé
As you might imagine, with a whole
world of pink wines out there, made from dozens of different grapes,
there is no single stylistic standard. Despite that simple fact, it
is very common to see pink wines touted as being “perfect for
back-porch summer sipping,” or “refreshingly thirst-quenching.”
Folks who write this kind of advertising copy may be mistaking pink
wine for pink lemonade! What’s more, I have read an awful lot of
nonsense about pairing pink wines with pink foods, from molded
gelatin salads to medium-rare steaks, to poached salmon and
Smithfield ham! There is no single style of pink wine, so, naturally,
there can be no single set of food-wine pairings.
While there are as many gradations in
styles as there are shades of pink in the rosé world, we can think
of these wines as falling within four style classes:
Anjou Style (named for the
famous pink-wine district in Northern France’s Loire Valley):
These wines emphasize fruit. Alcohol levels are moderate, and the
finish is dry to medium dry, but never crossing into “sweet.”
Acidity is moderately high, and tannins low. Aromas and flavors that
suggest cherries, fresh red berries, roses and violets are
characteristic. These wines truly are wonderful summer
refreshers. They will complement picnic spreads that include smoked
meats, ripe cheeses, and fresh fruit.
Tavel Style (named for the major
rosé-producing village of the southern Rhone Valley in Southwestern
France): The pink wines of the hot southern areas of France, as well
as Spain and Portugal are anything but picnic wines! Made from the
same grapes that produce bold reds like Chateuneuf-du-Pape, these
wines are usually bone dry, high in alcohol, low in acid, and
relatively low in fruit. Their coarse, earthy flavors and the warmth
of alcohol are part of their attraction. These wines often have a bit
of tannic burr, as well. While young southern rosés will exhibit
some fruit, as they age—and many argue they should be
well-aged—they take on nutty, rich flavors that distinguish these
wines from all others. For food pairings, I first think of
well-herbed seafood fare from Provence, mild goat cheeses and country
patés, but I’ll bet it would wash down a Texas barbequed brisket
right nicely, as well.
Blush Style (named for the
common American term for California’s popular “pop” wines):
While many folks call these wine’s “fruity,” I often find
whatever fruit character they have to me masked by low acidity and
too much sweetness. This is a distinctive style that has certainly
captured the favor of the American wine market. Like Tavel-style
wines they may have the elevated alcohol and low acid levels of their
warm-country origin. What sets blush wines apart is their typical
sweetness, which makes them suitable to stand up to, and complement,
spicy Southwestern dishes, curries, and Thai barbeque.
Pink Bubbly: There is just
something attractive about bubbles in pink wine. Wherever rosés are
made, there is usually a bubbly version being bottled nearby. The
amount of bubbles range from a slight spritz detected more by the
tongue than the eye to the full-blooming mousse of fine rosé
Champagne. Most bubbly pink wines are finished off-dry, with at least
light fruit in the aroma. What should we serve these sparklers with?
Why, with love, of course!
Making Rosé at Home
Below are some brief tips for making
these styles of rosé. In each case, the level of color in the wine
is your choice. In general, more color can also mean more cherry or
rose-like flavors and aromas in the final wine. In some styles this
is more appropriate than others. To increase the color in wines made
from red grapes, just increase the amount of maceration time.
Conversely, to minimize color, press the grapes earlier. No hard and
fast recommendations can be made, because color extraction rates will
vary with grape varietals, temperature, ripeness and many other
factors. In most cases, however, you will need no more than two or
three hours of maceration to achieve an appropriate color level.
Remember you can always add color later, but it’s not too easy to
remove it!
I discuss here making pink wines from
red grapes. To make these styles from white grapes, just try to
select varieties that come close to the recommended red ones in sugar
content and acidity, then add color, aroma and flavor by adding a
bright, fresh, fruity red to the finished wine.
Tavel Style
First, we have to decide what style of
pink wine we want to make. Leaving aside, for the moment, using kits
or concentrates, our decision will depend somewhat on what kinds of
grapes we have available to us. If, for instance, we can get our
hands on fully ripened Rhone Valley grapes from California, then a
Tavel-style is a natural. Other “big” red grapes that are
appropriate for this style include Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Touriga
Nacional, and perhaps Nebbiolo. I suspect fully ripened
Norton/Cynthiana could do it as well!
If you want to make a Tavel-style wine,
but don’t have access to fully ripe Rhone-like reds, then I
recommend using grapes that come the closest to these. Ameliorate
acids by diluting with water until you have total acidity (TA) at
about 6 grams per liter, or slightly lower, or plan on conducting
malolactic fermentation (MLF), which is preferable for the Tavel
style. Of course, don’t let Ph rise higher than 3.7 or 3.8 at the
most. Chaptalize your must to 24-25 degrees Brix if the grapes don’t
contain sufficient sugar.
Choose an attenuative, neutral, yeast,
such as Prise de Mousse, or one that favors full-bodied mouth feel,
such as Montrachet, D-47, or D-254. A relatively warm fermentation is
appropriate for these wines, as is an extended period of contact with
lees. Cold stabilize over winter. You can let this wine continue to
bulk age for several more months, or bottle when clear and stable.
Bottle age from 6 months to several years.
Anjou Style
For an Anjou style wine, I think the
perfect choice would be Cabernet Franc, especially if grown in a
cooler region. Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, and Pinot Noir will
do fine, as well. This style doesn’t require the extent of ripeness
needed for Tavel. For that reason, it may be better suited to Eastern
and Northern winemakers, where preserving freshness, acidity and
cherry-like fruit is much easier than getting deep, dark grapes at 24
degrees Brix or higher. I have limited experience with
French-American hybrids used for rosé wines, other than Chamboursin,
which does a great job. I suspect that Foch, Chancellor, and many
others would also make excellent, fruity, pink wine.
Grapes at 20-22 degrees Brix are
appropriate, with total acidity that could range from 6.5 to 7.5 or
higher. A cool fermentation is best. Use gentle yeast that preserves
or enhances varietal fruit aromas, and which will preserve a little
residual sugar. I like Lalvin’s 71B for this application; however,
I believe that RC-212 and Red Star’s C ôte de Blancs would work
equally well. Adequate sulfite will insure prevention of MLF, which
is not desirable for this style. To preserve the freshness, rack
early, and with minimal oxygenation. Fine, sweeten to taste and
bottle as soon as the wine is stable (including cold stabilization).
Be sure to use potassium sorbate if bottling wine with residual
sugar.
Make your own Blush Wine
If White Zinfandel, White Merlot, or
similar wines are your goal, begin with the appropriate varietal
grapes. Of course, you might also want to try to match the style
using any red grapes you have available to you. After all, how many
folks out there have ever had the joy of drinking a White Lemberger
or White Catawba?
In this case the trick is to blend
aspects of the Anjou and Tavel methods. Your goal should be a lower
acidity—say, TA around 6 g/l—but this should be achieved
preferably without malolactic fermentation. Ameliorate acids by
diluting with sugar water if need be. MLF tends to mute the fresh
fruit flavors, and it is not suitable for home wines that will be
sweetened. It is not a good idea to add sorbate stabilizer to wines
that have undergone MLF. The sorbate interacts with MLF byproducts to
produce “geranium fault,” a flavor and stench that inevitably
destines the wine to be dumped down the drain. Believe me, I know
this from personal experience! You also want to achieve final alcohol
of at least 12% to 13.5% by volume, so use well ripened grapes if
possible, or chaptalize if necessary.
Cool fermentation, aroma-enhancing
yeasts, and early racking from lees are best for blush wines. As soon
as the wine is stable, fine, sweeten to taste, add sorbate, and
bottle.
Roll Your Own Pink Bubbly
Guidance in the méthode champenoise
is beyond the scope of this article, but see the fine introduction to
this method found in excellent Wine Maker articles by Alison
Crowe (Fall 1999) and Tim Vandergrift (April 2003). The first step in
making bubbly, however, is to make the still base wine that will
later be filled with bubbles.
I recommend that you make a base wine
following the guidelines for Anjou style rosé, above, but make
certain to keep the sugar content of the must at just 18 or 19
degrees Brix, at most. Remember that sugar will be added for the
bottle fermentation later, and that will bring alcohol up to the
appropriate level. Be sure, too, that TA is on the high side; 8 g/l
or higher. Sparkling wines require high acidity in order to stand up
to all those bubbles, as well as to the slight sweetening that is
usually carried out at the end of the process.
Pink Wine From Kits
There are not a lot of rosé wine kits
available on the market, and most of those that can be found are
nominally of the “blush” style When choosing a kit, look
carefully at the manufacturer’s description to get an idea about
the stylistic qualities of the finished wine. For instance, Winexpert
offers both a “Blush” kit and a “White Zinfandel” kit in
their Vintner’s Reserve Series. Their literature notes that the
blush is slightly drier than the Zin. They also offer a White Merlot
in their upmarket Selection Series. This, too, is described as less
sweet.
R.J. Spagnols offers a White Zinfandel
in their deluxe Cru Select Gold Series. This wine is described as
“clean and crisp with a prickle of acidity,” while the same
company’s more modest Cellar Classic line offers a White Zinfandel
described as “light,” “soft,” and “slightly fruity.”
Alexanders offers a canned concentrate
of Grenache Rose. This, made up to proper strength, actually makes a
rather substantial Tavel-style wine. They also make a Gamay Rosé,
which I haven’t tried. The product description sounds like it is
meant to approach an Anjou style.
Get in the Pink!
Like the late comedian, Rodney
Dangerfield, Rosé wines just don’t get the respect they deserve.
There may be oceans of pink plonk lining supermarket shelves, but the
savvy wine lover embraces the classic rosé styles of Europe, as well
as the better-made blush wines of California. Every home winemaker
should try his or her hand, at least once, in making a good rosé.
You may just find that, in the huge space between snow white and
garnet red, there is a whole spectrum of colors and flavors to
delight your senses.
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