thumb|A glass of rosé wine.
A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. The pink color can range from a pale "onionskin" orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grape varieties used and winemaking techniques. Usually, the wine is labelled rosé in French, Portuguese, and English-speaking countries; rosado in Spanish; rosat in Catalan; or rosato in Italian.
There are three major ways to produce rosé wine: skin contact, saignée, and blending. Rosé wines can be made still, semi-sparkling or sparkling and with a wide range of sweetness levels from highly dry Provençal rosé to sweet White Zinfandels and blushes. Rosé wines are made from a wide variety of grapes and can be found all around the globe.
When rosé wine is the primary product, it is produced with the skin contact method. Black-skinned grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for a short period, typically two to twenty hours. The grape must is then pressed and the skins discarded, rather than left in contact 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.
When a winemaker desires to impart more tannin and color to red wine, some of the pink juice from the must can be removed at an early stage in what is known as the Saignée (from French bleeding) method. The red wine remaining in the vats is intensified as a result of the bleeding, because the volume of juice in the must is reduced, and the must involved in the maceration becomes more concentrated. The pink juice that is removed can be fermented separately to produce rosé.
The simple mixing of red wine into white wine to impart color is uncommon and is discouraged in most wine growing regions, especially in France, where it is forbidden by law, except for Champagne. Even in Champagne, several high-end producers do not use this method but rather opt for the saignée method.
History
left|thumb|upright|Many of the earliest red wines were closer in color to modern rosé since many of the early winemaking techniques involved pressing soon after harvest.
It is not known when the first wine labeled as a rosé was produced, but it is very likely that many of the earliest red wines made were closer in appearance to today's rosés than they would be to modern red wines. This is because many of the winemaking techniques used to make today's darker, more tannic red wines (such as extended maceration and harder pressing) were not widely practised in ancient winemaking. Both red and white wine grapes were often pressed soon after harvest, (with very little maceration time) by hand, feet or even sack cloth, creating juice that was only lightly pigmented.
Even after the development of newer, more efficient wine presses, many ancient and early winemakers still preferred making the lighter colored and fruitier style of wines. There was an understanding, as early as the time of the Ancient Greeks and Roman winemakers, that harder pressing and letting the juice "sit" for a period with the skins would make darker, heartier wines, but the resulting wines were often considered too harsh and less desirable. This sentiment lasted well into the Middle Ages, when the pale clarets from Bordeaux were starting to gain the world's attention. To the powerful English market, the most prized clarets were, according to wine historian Hugh Johnson, the vin d'une nuit or "wine of one night", which were pale-rosé colored wines made from juice that was allowed only a single night of skin contact. The darker wine produced from must that had longer skin contact were known as the vin vermeilh (or pinpin to the English) was considered to be of much lesser quality. In 1975, Sutter Home's "White Zinfandel" wine experienced a stuck fermentation, a problem in which the yeast goes dormant, or in some cases dies off before all the sugar is turned to alcohol. Winemaker Bob Trinchero put it aside for two weeks, then upon tasting it he decided to sell this pinker, sweeter wine.
In 1976, wine writer Jerry D. Mead visited Mill Creek Vineyards in Sonoma County, California. The name caught on as a marketing name for the semi-sweet wines from producers such as Sutter Home and Beringer. Today, Blush wine appears on wine lists more often as a category, rather than a specific wine. In 2010 Mill Creek produced a rosé wine for the first time in years, although Jeremy Kreck (Charles' grandson and current winemaker) chose not to use the Blush name.
Although "blush" originally referred to a color (pale pink), it now tends to indicate a relatively sweet pink wine, typically with 2.5% residual sugar; in North America, dry pink wines are usually marketed as rosé but sometimes as blush. In Europe, almost all pink wines are referred to as rosé regardless of sugar levels, even semi-sweet ones from California. As the term rosé regained popularity in the US market, shares of wine labeled "blush" declined from 22% of all wines consumed in the US in 1997 to 15% in 2003. Rosé became a viral drink in 2015, with men who drink rosé being referred to as brosé. In summer 2016, a slushy variation, frosé, was developed at the Bar Primi in New York.
Winemaking methods
left|thumb|Simplified illustration of the four colors of wine – red wine, orange wine, rosé wine, white wine
Rosés can be produced in a variety of ways with the most common method being early pressing of red grape varieties after a very short period, usually 12–24 hours, of skin-contact (maceration). During maceration, phenolics such as the anthocyanins and tannins that contribute to color as well as many flavor components are leached from the skins, seeds and any stems left in contact with the must. In addition to adding color and flavor, these phenolics also serve as antioxidants, protecting the wine from degradation of oxygen exposure. While red wines will often have maceration last several days to even several weeks, the very limited maceration of rosés means that these wines will have less stable color, potential flavor components and oxygen protection. This contributes to wines with shorter shelf-life that are meant to be consumed soon after release.thumb|upright|Sample of [[Mourvedre and rosé that had been bled off (saignée) from the red wine juice.|left]]
Vin gris
Unlike the maceration method which gives some, albeit very brief, time for the juice to be in contact with the skins vin gris are wines made from the immediate pressing of red skin grapes without any maceration time. Despite the name vin gris, the resulting juice is actually not grey but rather a very pale pink that is usually much lighter than traditionally made rosés using the limited maceration and saignée methods. Under French wine laws, wines labelled gris de gris must only be made from lightly tinted grape varieties such as Cinsault, Gamay and Grenache gris. The style is a specialty of the Lorraine Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) Côtes de Toul made from Gamay and in Morocco where the orange-pink wine is made from a blend of Cinsault, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon. in France, rosés in Provence display one of the different colors: melon (cantaloupe), peach, redcurrant, grapefruit, mango, mandarin.
Many studies have shown that the color of wine influences consumers' perceptions about the wine. While these studies have shown that consumers tend to prefer on visual inspection the darker rosés, in blind taste tests where color could not be visually discerned (such as using black wine glasses), often consumers preferred the lighter-colored rosés.
French rosés
France is the top global producer of rosé, accounting for 35% of the world's supply. It also leads in consumption, with one-third of the wine consumed in the country being rosé. Many of the earliest red wines produced in such notable wine regions as Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne were "rosé-style" wines made from juice that had only brief periods of skin contact during winemaking. Today rosé is produced throughout France from the cooler climate rosé Champagnes and Loire Valley wines to the warm Mediterranean influence climates of Provence and the southern Rhone Valley. Over the period between 2010 and 2024, exports of rosé from Provence have surged by about 500%. However, many modern rosé Champagnes are produced as regular Champagnes but are later "colored up" by adding red Pinot noir wines to the finished wine. According to wine expert Karen MacNeil, some Champagne producers believe this second method adds more richness and age-ability to the wine. rosés are made in many ways and from most common rosé wine grape varieties. This is due to the large use of the PGI appellation system. In the Jura wine region, the Arbois AOC makes very pale, pink red wines that are often mistaken for rosés from Pinot noir and the local Poulsard and Trousseau varieties. But the region also makes even paler actual rosés from the same grape varieties that are pressed after only a few hours of skin contact.
The Italians have several terms for rosé style wines beginning with the term rosato that is a permitted wine style in several Denominazione di origine controllata. These wine tend to be very pale in color with slightly dark wines (but not dark enough to be considered a rosso or red wine) being labeled as Chiaretto. Ramato, a specialty in the Veneto, are copper-colored rosés made from pink-skinned Pinot grigio grape that are allowed a period of extended maceration. The term Cerasuolo (meaning "cherry red") describes a vividly colored rosé and is seen frequently in the Abruzzo region where rosé made in the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo region from deeply pigmented Montepulciano grape are given a special designation within the DOC. Rotling refers to a rosé that is either made from multiple grape varieties that can either be all red wine varieties or a mixture of white and red grape varieties. This designation is required on all Tafelwein (table wine), Landwein ("country wine" similar to the French vin de pays) and Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) level but its presence on the label is optional for Prädikatswein (the highest classification of German wine).
In the Baden region, Badisch Rotgold is a specialty rosé made from Spätburgunder (Pinot noir) and Ruländer (Pinot gris). Under German wine law the wine must be made to at least QbA level (meaning the grapes must be harvested with a ripeness level of at least 51°Oe to 72°Oe.
In Austria, Styria is known for a particular type of rosé called Schilcher that is made from the indigenous Blauer Wildbacher grape that is rarely grown outside of western Styria. The wine is noted for it fruity flavor and high levels of acidity.
In the Alicante and Jumilla DOs the winemakers made their red wines and rosados using a method that is almost the reverse of the saignee method (where rosé juice is bled off the red wine). This method, known as the doble pasta (meaning "double paste") takes the skins from the early pressed rosé wine and adds them to the red wine (similar to the Italian ripasso method). The rosados are made like normal with a light, fruity style while the red wines made with the extra skins are darker in color and more deeply concentrated. The eastern end of Long Island has over 60 vineyards and wineries that produce a range of rosé wines.
See also
- Clairet, a very dark rosé sometimes considered its own category of wine
- Rosé apple cider, made using red-fleshed applecrabs
- Frosé, a mixed drink consisting of rosé frozen to a slush, with strawberries, vodka and lemon juice