DRY ROSÉ WINES

Maybe one on the main reasons why dry rosé wines became so popular, is their large number of colors, smells, texture, intensity and density.

To name the few:

• Pale salmon color, mineral aromas, fragile acidity in Côte de Provence, for bleded wines made from cabernet-sauvignon, cinsault and grenache.
• Deeper salmon color, strawberries and riped melon aromas, fragile acidity and appropriate weight for cabernet franc wines coming from Saumur region in Loire valley
• Light ruby color, including some CO2, dry grape aromas and well refreshing structure for Italian Barchetto d’Acqui
• Pink-orange color, spice & herbs aromas, refreshing acidity with sweet accents for Rioja wines made from granacha and tempranillo
• Pink color, highly concentrated aromas, sweet accents in few dry Californian roses made from pinot.

There are at least three methods of making dry rosé wine:

1. Gray or pale rosé wine
The grapes are pressed as soon as they arrive in the cellar. It allows a quicker diffusion of the color in the must.

The juice is left a very short time in contact with the skin. No more than a few hours! That way the must is delicately colored.

Rosé wine is then made in the same way as white wine, fermentation of the must cleared of solid elements without any more maceration. The winemaker obtains a gray or pale rosé wine (for Gris de Bourgogne or Rosé de Loire).

2. Colored pink wine
To obtain a colored pink wine the grapes are put in the fermentation tank after having been crushed. The juice quickly enriches itself in alcohol with the temperature going up (in the tank).

At the contact of the solid element the color quickly diffuses. The winemaker chooses the intensity of the color by controlling a sample every hour. When he is satisfied he devattes.

The wine is evacuated in another tank to finish fermenting. The must left in the original tank is evacuated and not used for rosé any more.

3. The bleeding
To obtain an even more intense color, once an hour, during the initial fermentation the winemaker takes out of the tank a certain amount of juice.
When the color is satisfying, the wine making process goes on as for a white wine. Rosé de Provence are obtained by that method.

Grape varietes usually used to make dry rosé wines: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, syrah, pinot noir, merlot, grenache, gamay, sangiovese, nebbiolo, montepulciano, tempranillo and many more endemic (local) varieties.
Quite often they are produced as blend of there varieties: grenache, cinsault and mourvédre.

Dry rosé wines are in principle produced in Europe.

1. France: Provence, Loire valley, southern part of Rhone valley (Lirac, Tavel), Burgundy (Marsannay)
2. Italy: Abruzzo (Cerasuolo), Bardolino (Chiaretto), Salento next to Puglia
3. Spain: Navarra, Rioja, Catalonia
4. Portugal: various regions all over the country

Quality of rosé dry wine is not determined by its color.
Most important elements to judge their quality, are:
• Balance between acidity and sweetness
• Aromas concentration