Rose Wine
by Wendy VanHatten
When you think of summer and wine, do you think of rose? If you like a delightfully crisp, chilled wine to go with your summer…think rose. You really don’t need to sniff or swirl to enjoy this wine. Best of all, it’s not your grandmother’s white Zin.
In the US, we drink over 500 million bottles a year. In France, I’ve read that more people drink rose than white wines.
Probably for those reasons, you can find roses from every wine region…made from just about every red grape varietal. Terroir is relatively unimportant to making a decent rose. The grapes just need to be picked on the early side to keep the acidity high and the alcohol low. There is minimal contact with the grape skins during fermentation, making the wine pink. Rose can even be a by-product of a producer making red wines. The winemaker takes some of the pink juice, which intensifies the color of his red wine and therefore produces rose to sell during the years his red wine is sitting in a barrel.
Enjoy your summer and your glass of rose.
Cheers…
