Health & Fitness
What Color Is It?
The next time you are reaching for a bottle of wine for the summer months, whether you're at the pool, on a boat, or sitting on a beach in the South of France, try a dry rosé.
It is definitely the most misunderstood wine produced. Just look at it; it’s not quite red, not quite white. In Italy it’s called Rosato, Rosado in Spain, and Rosé elsewhere. Rosé is one of the fastest growing segments on the wine world, but is probably more polarizing than Tim Tebow.
Most of the hesitation towards rosé comes from most consumers experience with White Zinfandel in California. The light salmon hue of a dry rosé immediately draws a Pavlovian response, “I don’t like sweet wines.” Stop right there, because the rise in pink wines is not in the sweet segment, but rather the fermented bone-dry wines.
Dry rosé can be created in various different ways. Some are created by pulling juice off a red-wine ferment in order to concentrate the color of the red wine (Saignée method). This is probably the most common method used today, but others are beginning to focus solely on rosé with no intention of creating a red wine. The other method you’ve probably done yourself at a wine tasting! The blending of red and white wine to create rosé is the specialty of Champagne and is fairly uncommon elsewhere in the world.
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The names of the grapes are familiar. Rosé from around the world can be made with any of the red grape varieties. While the great dry rosés from Provence are usually blends, there are fantastic single varietal bottles of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and even Malbec! One of the best features of rosé is the wines will take on the flavor characteristics of the red grapes. Red drinkers will recognize the flavors of their favorite red wines in a light and refreshing style, while white wine drinkers will appreciate the crisp acidity and clean flavors.
The next time you are reaching for a bottle of wine for the summer months, whether you’re at the pool, on a boat, or sitting on a beach in the South of France, try a dry rosé. If you can set aside the cloyingly sweet memories of your early drinking days, you will be immensely rewarded with one of the wine world’s greatest pairings… a bottle of dry rosé and a comfortable seat outside on a beautiful sunny day.
