Rosé

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A Rosé, or in the case of Italian wines, Rosato is a type of wine that is neither purely red wine nor purely white wine. It has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and winemaking techniques.

There are three major ways to produce rosé. The first is used when rosé wine is the primary product. Red-skinned grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for a short period. The grapes are then pressed, and the skins are discarded rather than left in contact throughout fermentation as with red wine making. Because the skins contain much of the strongly flavoured tannin and other compounds, this leaves the wine tasting more similar to a white wine. The longer that the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the final wine.

The second way called saignee, or bleeding, is used when the winemaker desires to impart more tannin and color to a wine, and removes some pink must. This is known as bleeding the vats. This juice is then fermented separately, producing the rosé as a by-product of intensifying the original red wine.

The third method, the simple adding of red wine to a white to impart color, is discouraged in most wine growing regions now except for Rosé de Champagne. Even in Champagne many producers do not use this method.

European rosés are almost always dry wines while American versions (often labeled as "blush"), such as white Zinfandel are often very sweet.

Single varietal rosé wines originating from Germany are normally labelled as Weißherbst.^[1]

[edit] See also

• Wine

[edit] External links

• Drinking Rosé in the Summer
• Rosé Wines in UK from Wine of Course

[edit] References

1. ^ eWinePlanet.com - Germany