Rosé Wine

In terms of rosés, the choice of method of production and wine style will often drive timing of harvest. 

What it does

A longer harvest will allow grapes to hang in the vineyard for a longer period of time, resulting in riper fruit, higher sugars, and lower acidity. Some styles of rosés are made with fruit gown specifically and deliberately for this genre. Alternatively, those aiming for lighter style rosés, notably those including Pinot Noir, growers will pick earlier to achieve lower alcohol and higher acidity. It’s worth noting that quite young vineyards, and plots with higher yields, are often allocated for rosé wines.

Comment

For rose wines made via saignée, the picking is ‘normal’ as the rosé is made from bled rose-colored juice (during fermentation some must is removed to concentrate the dry extract of the remaining wine and add depth and body to the red wine).

What it does

Proponents of wild yeast embrace the unique flavors attributed to “place,” or terroir, including savory and matchstick-like aromas. Cultivated yeasts are more predictable and can be selected/customized to contribute specific flavors and aromas.

Comment

A number of California winemakers and wineries carry this practice into rosé winemaking, preferring native yeast ferment flavors for their interpretation of rosé.

What it is

A majority of California  rosé is made by fermenting and indeed aging for a brief period in stainless steel. Occasionally, some producers will favor oak, but it is almost always older and/or essentially neutral in impact. Finally, there are some producers playing around with amphoras.  

Comment

Neutrality of flavor impact is key for rosé wines, vis-a-vis their fermentation vessel. Further, unlike red wines made from the same grapes, rosé wines are often highly vulnerable to oxidation because they have less anthocyanins (pigment and tannins). When it comes to rosé, freshness is paramount. Many winemakers even prevent malolactic fermentation to preserve high acidity.

What it does

Certain grapes lend themselves to certain styles. A lightly macerated vin gris can be made only with Pinot Noir, while a Grenache-based rosé is most commonly made via saignée (bleeding), in which a certain percentage of the not-yet red wine must is racked out of the fermentation vessel, then allowed to complete fermentation separately. The saignée technique concentrates the remaining must in the red wine fermentation and also makes a delicious dry rosé. 

Comment

The goal of the style of wine to be made determines so much.

What it does

Not only will a specific style and grape(s) mark the destiny of a rosé, so too will its color. Different styles of rosés have specific colors associated with them -- whether paler or deeper in shade.  

Comment

Crazy as it might seem, for many rosé fans, color is more important than flavor. It is a reality that, conscious or not, people will pre-judge a rosé when looking at it, even before they taste it. If they find the color to be lacking, or overly intense, or otherwise unappealing, they will be predisposed to not like it, regardless of how it tastes. As such, winemakers will spend time and attention in creating a desired hue. To manage the color of rosé sparkling wines, the preferred and most common method is to add some still red wine to a white wine base to achieve the desired shade.

The wood employed for most wine barrels, used for aging the wine, or actual fermentation of the wine in the barrel. Barrel decisions include the type of wood, the amount of toast (when the staves of the barrels are bent over an open flame), size (smaller = higher ratio of wood to wine = stronger oak influence), and the age of the barrels. 

What it does

• Heavily toasted barrels impart more intense roasted torrified flavors (caramel, molasses, coffee, and burnt sugar).
• Oak bestows a waxy, velvety texture and can add a sweet toffee flavor to the wine. 
• New oak contributes much more flavor than older, previously used oak which, depending on the wine and the grapes, may be a better choice. 
• Small (barrique-sized) barrel fermentation, at warmer temperatures than those in stainless steel and over shorter increments of time, also imparts a richer and smoother texture to the wine than one that is not fermented in barrel

Comment

Use of wood for rosé wine is quite rare. Most rosé wines are fermented, aged, and blended in stainless steel to specifically eliminate the influence that wood, even older or larger, can have. That said, some producers will use oak barrels, and extensively used, or large older wood vats to add nuances and texture to their base wines. Winemakers emphasizing judicious use of wood do so for the reason of adding roundness and richness.

What it does

In blended-style sparkling rosés, the process of coming up with a master cuvée is as true as it is for red wines (i.e. percentage of each grape, etc.).

Comment

Each winery has its own flavor profile goal for a rosé bubbly and their point of view is established through their base cuvée. Here the color is accomplished in one of two manners: (1) blending a small amount of still red wine into the otherwise white-colored cuvée (most common) or (2) by removing the skins from the fermenting red wine the moment you like the color and completing the fermentation to dry without the skins to achieve the desired blush color.

What it does

The amount of residual sweetness in the finished wine determines its style, and its ultimate audience. There are as many wine drinkers who do not like dry wines as those that do. Fans of the typically dry vin gris-style Pinot Noir rosé might take issue if their wine turns out to be unexpectedly off-dry. Lovers of the traditionally sweeter style White Zinfandel will be equally disappointed in the (unlikely) event that their purchase is discovered to  be unexpectedly dry.

Comment

The fine line between perceptible sweetness and actual sweetness is a tightrope walk. A little bit of residual sugar left in a wine may not be apparent as sweet by wine drinkers, but will be effective in accentuating the perceived ripeness of the fruit. Moving from dry to slightly sweet is common in some styles: 4-8 g/l residual sugar (often abbreviated to “RS”) is very popular with many consumers.