It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. There are three major ways to produce rosé wine: skin contact, saignée, types of rosé wine blending. 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 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 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. 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. 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. Similarly, in the early history of Champagne, the wines produced from this region during the Middle Ages were nothing like the sparkling white wines associated with the region today.
Even as Champenois moved towards producing sparkling wines, they continued to produce both sparkling and still rosés often by means of blending a small amount of red wine to “color up” an already-made white wine. The depth of color was dependent on the amount red wine added, with the red wine having more influence on the resulting flavor of the wine if added in larger volumes. In the United States, a stuck fermentation while producing a red wine from Zinfandel would lead to the development of the popular rose-colored wine White Zinfandel. The history of rosé would take a dramatic turn following the conclusion of World War II when two Portuguese wine producer families both released sweet, slightly sparkling rosés to the European and American markets. In the early 1970s, demand for white wine exceeded the availability of white wine grapes, so many California producers made “white” wine from red grapes, in a form of saignée production with minimal skin contact, the “whiter” the better. In 1976, wine writer Jerry D.
Mead visited Mill Creek Vineyards in Sonoma County, California. North America, dry pink wines are usually marketed as rosé but sometimes as blush. In the United States, a record 2005 California crop has resulted in an increased production and proliferation of varietals used for rosés, as winemakers chose to make rosé rather than leave their reds unsold. 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. 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. Another method of producing rosé is to severely decolorize a red wine using absorbent charcoal such as activated carbon. Rosés can come in a variety of colors depending on the grape variety and method of production. A bottle of Gametime rosé from Nocking Point Wines in dark green glass.
With the exception of very few varieties, known as teinturiers, most wine grapes produce clear or colorless juice. This includes such well known red wine grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot noir. Many studies have shown that the color of wine influences consumers’ perceptions about the wine. For these reasons, many rosé winemakers are mindful of the color quality of their rosé and make winemaking decisions based on this factor. This includes the extent of maceration, whether or not to do a saignee from a darker red wine and even to do a color adjustment by blending in some finished red wine in order to reach the desired color. Many of the aroma and flavor components in wine are located in the skin of the grape.
The aromas and flavor of rosés are primarily influenced by the particular grape varieties used to produce the wine, but the method of production also plays an important part. The light, fruity character of many rosés come from volatile thiols that are found as flavor precursors in the grape skins. The stability of these aromas is very dependent on the amount of anthocyanins and other phenolics that protect these compounds from oxidation. One of the reasons why rosés have a very limited shelf-life is because of their low phenolic levels due to the very limited skin contact and extraction time. 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. The Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence AOC is the second largest AOC in Provence, covering 50 communes in the west and northwestern part of the region. Located in the hilly central region of Provence, rosés account for almost two-thirds of the production in the Coteaux Varois AOC.