Rose

What makes wine pink? The most traditional and in my opinion the only way to add coloring to your wine is through skin contact. Initially all wines, even red grapes, produce juice that runs clear. There are three major ways to produce rosé wine: skin contact, saignée and blending. Skin contact is probably the most common and traditional. For rose, the skins are allowed contact typically for one to three days. They then press the must and get rid of the skins for the remainder of fermentation. Saignee, is a French term for essentially bleeding the wine. When a producer wants to intensify his or her red wine they will “bleed” some of the wine in the early stages of skin contact to concentrate the volume of juice for the red wine. The early pulled juice is fermented separately and boom; you got rose. Blending is not the most fashionable and desired method of producing rose. It is simply mixing red and white wine, already fermented, to get a pinkish hue.
Although they produce rose nearly everywhere they produce wine. I would like to discuss a few from what I believe to be the top rose producing regions currently; The South of France, Spain, and the United States. Three wines, three different produces and three different grape compositions all to produce the gateway to summer… rose.

France. Chateau D’Esclans “Whispering Angel” (24.99)
When talking about rose the Provence region of France is probably the most notable. The Chateau is located on elevated land outside of Marseille near the ancient Roman town of Frejus. The soil is a complex blend; lower elevations are comprised of gravel and sand. The higher elevations are a combination of chalk and clay. The wine is made from grenache, cinsault, mouvedre mostly. This is a very typical blend of grapes from this particular region. The wine is hand harvested and carefully de-stemmed and soft crushed at a cool temperature to avoid additional coloration. It’s fresh, clean and dry with great acidity. A real crowd pleaser, in my opinion; what rose should be.

Oregon. Van Duzer Rose (16.99)
This Rose is made from 100% pinot noir. This is considered a dry rose with a few tannins showing through, but plenty of acidity. The soils are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loams and silts, with alluvial overlays and a base of uplifting basalt. Van Duzer sits in a unique location just south of Mcminnville and actually has an area called the “Van Duzer Corridor” named after them. This corridor pushes dry winds into the area from the coast helping cool the grapes because of its low elevation. Strawberry, watermelon and mineral flavors dominate this porch pounder.

Spain. Muga Rose (16.99)
Composed of 60% garnacha, 30% viura and 10% tempranillo this dry rose is allowed 12 hours of maceration with the skins. The soils in this part of Rioja are a calcareous clay and alluvial. The wine ferments for 25 days in 1000 liter wooden vats and then kept there for 2 months before it is bottled. Peach, pear and cherries slightly green (not ripe). Great acid, great wine…enjoy

Nick, Wine Buyer