|
FrontRangeLiving.com -> Cooking -> Rose Wines
Everything's Coming Up Rosé
By Sally Mohr, Master Sommelier
 They range from pale pink to salmon, neon
watermelon to pale crimson reds--rosés from the Anjou region of the Loire,
Provence’s Bandol, and Tavel from the Rhone Valley are considered benchmarks
for perfumed, crisp pink wines. These set the standard for the dry wines that
the rest of the world tries to emulate.
Not all pink wine is called rosé, but all rosé
is pink wine. The name you see on the label depends on where it originates. Rosé
is the French term we see most often, probably because it is so much fun to
say—row-zay!
Pink wine must come from red grapes because the skin of the grape is the color. It’s really red wine without lots of skin
contact. Besides the color, the skins also contain the tannins (aging potential)
and all the flavor compounds that go into the wine. Since white wine is made
from white grapes that have no color in the skins, these elements can be
extracted without affecting the color.
A tour through Europe reveals a vast assortment
of terminology. A German wine label will have the words Schillerwein,
Weissherbst, Clairet, or the less appetizing term of Rotling to denote a
pink-hued wine.
Italy’s most common term is Rosato, while the
words Cerasuolo and Chiaretto tell the consumer whether it is a light or dark
pink wine.
In Spain and Portugal, you’ll know the darkness
of hue as well, so they have Rosado (light color) and Clarete (darker color).
The French have more than one word for pink wine:
Vin Gris, Saignée, or œil de Perdrix (eye of the partridge).
The United States and the rest of the New World
have a habit of “stealing” wine terms to suit their heritage or demeanor at
the time.
Although there are several methods of producing
pink wines, two are popular now. Most common is when skins, stems, seeds and
pips macerate with the juice just long enough to extract the desired color and
flavor. The second removes some of the juice from freshly crushed red grapes.
This concentrates the remaining juice with the original amount of solids.
The red wine becomes richer with more flavor
compounds and the pink wine is a mini version of the red. Now the winery has two
wines to sell instead of only one.
Pink wine can always be made by mixing red and
white together. These are the casseroles of the wine world, resulting in a
better wine as a whole than any of the parts by themselves.
You’ll find the taste of fresh watermelon,
cherries and strawberries with hints of peaches, apricots and tropical fruits.
Chill and pair it with anything off the grill, meat or vegetables. Or accompany
it with salads, sandwiches or greens.
White Zinfandel, White Merlot, White Grenache are
all pink-colored wines, but in a separate category. These blush wines tend to be
a bit sweet and not taken as seriously as the dry rosé wines, although a few
White Zinfandels can be dry, superb examples of the Zinfandel grape.
When the summer days are hot, look to pink wines
to satiate. A versatile complement to the array from the garden, rosé will take
you to another place. You’re in Provence….or perhaps the Riviera…sipping a
glass with a bowl of bouillabaisse.
|
