Hooray! It’s rosé season! We love to drink refreshing dry rosé on warm spring and summer evenings. It’s the best of both worlds—like a light red wine that you get to drink chilled.

There are many ways to categorize wines, a major one being either white or red. Yet we tend to overlook the entire range of pink wines that fall in between. Rosé (“pink” in French) refers to any wine hardly perceptible pink to a pale red. Technically, rosé can be produced from any red grape varietals, but some are more common than others.

Don’t be afraid to drink pink wine! These are not white zinfandel, so you don’t have to go running from the room. (Pink wines that are sweet are generally called “blush” wines.)

The grape varietal, region, and winemaking style will influence the taste of a rosé wine. Rosé typically express fruit notes of strawberries, cherries, and raspberries. They range from light to medium in body and can also be acidic, minerally, dry, or off-dry (slightly sweet.

How Rosé Wine is Made

No, they don’t just grow pink grapes, but Rosé are made by a number of different processes. They are often made from red grapes by a brief maceration of the juice with the skins. This short skin contact extracts just enough color and flavor. The juice is then separated from the skins and fermentation proceeds. (Remember, that if you peel a red grape, all of its color is in the skin layer.) This skin contact may range from several hours up to a day in length. Rosés are typically unoaked, which helps make them crisp and refreshing

Of course, White + Red = Pink. Rosé wine can also be produced by blending a small amount of finished red wine to white wine. Champagne is the most prominent controlled appellation in which rosé is often made by this blending method.

Yet another method of producing rosé is called “Saignée,” which is French for “bled.”

This technique was utilized by numerous Bordeaux producers in the 2004 vintage. 2004 was a high yielding vintage and vintners wished to concentrate their wine. By making a rosé, they were able to create a richer red wine. How, you ask? Well, during the first press, they collected the free-run juice that bled from the grapes. This pale-colored juice was made into rosé wine. Vintner’s further crushed the grapes and made red wine. The changed ratio of grape juice to skins and led to a deeper, fuller-bodied red wine.

Where Rosé is made:

France

Rosés are particularly common in the warm regions of Southern France. The most predominant are Provence, Rhone Valley (The Rhone Village of Tavel is most famous for its rosés), and the Langudoc. These are made from grapes such as Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Mourvedre.

Champagne

Three grape varieties are grown in the Champagne region: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Menieur (a close cousin). Even golden-hued Champagnes are made from a blend of these grapes. Rosé Champagne is considered the crème de la crème, as they are rarer and more difficult to produce than golden Champagnes. It is full-bodied and complex with lots of berry overtones. Champagne producers use the blending method to make rosé by adding a bit of red wine to their white base wine.

Spain also produces rosé wine.

New World - California, South Africa, Australia, and South America all make some pretty tasty rosés.

Pairing Rosé with Food

Rosé are delicious and refreshing on their own, but they are also food-versatile. They work well with salmon and tuna as well as pork and chicken based dishes. Provençal rosés stand up to assertive herbal and garlicky flavors. Rosés are also nice with salads, but go easy on acidic dressing.