WHAT IS ROSÉ WINE
Rosé is a type of wine made from red wine grapes, produced in a similar manner to red wine, but with reduced time fermenting with grape skins. This reduced skin contact gives rosé a pink hue and lighter flavour than that of red wine. Rosé is produced around the world, as it can be made from any red wine grape cultivated in any wine-growing region. Rosé is typically a blended wine made from a variety of different wine grapes but it can also be a single varietal wine, made from one type of grape.
HOW IS ROSÉ WINE PRODUCED?
MACERATION
Rosé gets its distinct pink colour through a production process known as maceration, the most common way to make pink wine. Red grapes are juiced and left to soak (macerate) with their skins for a day or two until the juice turns a subtle pink colour. The grape skins are then removed and the juice continues to ferment because the wine will get darker the longer the rosé is left to macerate with the skins, which is why rosé wines can range from pale blush to bright pink in colour. Rosé is also not the same as a blush wine, which is a combination of red and white wine.
SAIGNÉE/BLED
During the first few hours of making a red wine, some of the juice is bled off and put into a new vat to make rosé. The purpose of bleeding off the juice not only produces a lovely rosé but it also concentrates the red wines’ intensity. 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.
BLENDING
A little bit of red wine is added to a vat of white wine to make rosé. It doesn’t take much red wine to dye a white wine pink, so usually these wines will have up to 5% or so, of a red wine added.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF ROSÉ WINES
Researchers have discovered the purple skin of the grapes contains resveratrol and rosé wines contain some resveratrol. Resveratrol is an antioxidant which tends to decrease the risks of heart disease and inflammation.
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