Getting to know rosé wine

Somewhere between the boldness of red and the crispness of white lies one of the most underrated glasses in the wine world. Rosé has long been dismissed as a summer novelty -- but look a little closer and you'll find extraordinary depth, variety, and a story very much worth telling.

Getting to know Rosé

Rosé wine isn't from a specific grape or region; it's a genre of wine, like red or white. The biggest producers by volume are France, Spain and Italy but many excellent examples are made in South Africa. Most Rosé wines are made from blends of multiple grapes.

Rosé wine is the perfect year-round wine to be enjoyed at spring picnics, summer braais and autumn dinners and pairs well with many types of food.

Calling wine 'food-friendly' can be an annoying cliché, but in the case of Rosé, it's not wrong. These wines are versatile because they fall in between the extremes of red and white -- less intense than a big, tannic, mouth-busting red, but often with more depth than a super-light white.

That happy-medium flavour profile (and the fact that different varietals span a broad spectrum from bright and zippy to darker and meatier) means that you can almost always find a Rosé wine that plays along with whatever you're eating -- fish, veggies, chicken, grilled steak, potato chips, choc-chip cookies, you name it. Just make sure that the wine is well chilled before drinking.

France Spain and Italy

It's the perfect braai wine, the perfect beach wine, and the perfect picnic wine, but it's also the perfect sitting-around-watching-TV wine.

The maceration method is by far the most popular method of making quality Rosé and this process is essentially exactly what the name describes. Since colour is held in the skin of the grape, the grapes are crushed and the juice is left in contact with the skins, as a red wine would be made. However, the skins are left to soak only for a limited amount of time, depending on the desired style of Rosé. This can be anywhere from 6-48 hours (as opposed to weeks or months for a red wine).

The longer the maceration, the darker and more richly flavoured the Rosé. The juice is then racked, or drawn off the skins, and the rose-tinted wine begins fermentation. This method can make many styles of Rosé depending on the grape variety and the length of maceration.

What happens next

The longer the maceration, the darker and more richly flavoured the Rosé.

The Saignée (pronounced 'San-yay') method is when some of the juice is bled off during the first few hours of making a red wine and put into a new tank to make Rosé. The purpose of bleeding off the juice not only produces a lovely Rosé but also concentrates the intensity of the red wine. Saignée wines are pretty rare, due to the production method, and often will make up only about 10% or less of a winery's production.

The purpose of bleeding off the juice not only produces a lovely Rosé but also concentrates the intensity of the red wine.

A closer look

The blending method is when a little red wine is added to a tank of white wine to make Rosé. It doesn't take much red wine to dye a white wine pink, so usually, these wines will only have about 5% of added red wine. This method is no longer such a common practice with still Rosé wines but is used in the production of pink sparkling wines and MCC.

3 Facts you should know about Rosé There's no shame in drinking pink wine! The longer the grape skins are left in the wine, the darker the colour of the finished Rosé will be. The intensity of colour can also be influenced by the variety used to make the Rosé. The newest vintage is the freshest wine. It's not necessary to store these wines for years. Most of the first wines released in any vintage are made in the Rosé style.

Increase your wine knowledge and get to know Red and White Blends | Shiraz | Chardonnay | Chenin Blanc | Cabernet Sauvignon | Merlot | Pinotage | Sauvignon Blanc | Unusual Varietals

Karen has had a passion for wine as far back as she can remember and has happily been working in the industry for just over 10 years. Whilst qualified as a wine judge, through both Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities, she loves to keep her finger on the pulse by getting out to visit the wine estates themselves. Karen believes that wine should be sipped, savoured, and shared! It's an entirely subjective experience and all that's required is that you find one that is perfect for you.

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Whilst qualified as a wine judge, through both Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities, she loves to keep her finger on the pulse by getting out to visit the wine estates themselves.

Reading the wider picture

What ends up in the glass is only half the story. Packaging, pricing and placement decide how far a drink actually travels.

What to remember

• Rosé wine is the perfect year-round wine to be enjoyed at spring picnics, summer braais and autumn dinners and pairs well with many types of food
• Calling wine 'food-friendly' can be an annoying cliché, but in the case of Rosé, it's not wrong
• The maceration method is by far the most popular method of making quality Rosé and this process is essentially exactly what the name describes
• The Saignée (pronounced 'San-yay') method is when some of the juice is bled off during the first few hours of making a red wine and put into a new tank to make Rosé
• The blending method is when a little red wine is added to a tank of white wine to make Rosé

The numbers worth knowing

• This can be anywhere from 6-48 hours (as opposed to weeks or months for a red wine)
• Karen has had a passion for wine as far back as she can remember and has happily been working in the industry for just over 10 years

The bottom line

None of this settles the wider question. It does make one thing harder to ignore: the pressure on the drinks list has shifted, and others will have to respond to it.