About now, I’m usually stocking up on white wine and putting my red wine down in the basement until fall. I find that white wine usually accompanies the summer better than red. For one thing, white wine is usually chilled, so it’s refreshing when the temperatures soar. For another, it tends to go better than red with lighter fare (such as salads, chicken and fish) that graces the summer table.
This summer, however, I’m adding another element. Inspired by affordable rosé wines from France that I’ve been reading about, I’m rediscovering pink wine.
Rosé was the first wine I ever loved. Like many young adults who thought wine was for old or snobby people, I delighted in my first sip of white zinfandel. With its slightly sweet, unmistakably fruity flavors, it seemed like a more sophisticated version of that staple of childhood, Kool-Aid.
But like many before – and since – I soon moved on, looking for something more interesting.
I discovered white wine. I discovered red wine. I discovered Champagne. I discovered Port. I left pink behind, sure that I was too grown up and worldly for such a silly wine. And I’m ashamed to admit, I found myself looking down on rosé drinkers in the same way an 11-year-old looks down upon an eight-year-old for riding a Disney-princess bicycle!
Secure in my maturity as a wine snob, I was surprised when I recently started noticing the number of articles on pink wines, particularly French pinks, in my favorite wine periodicals. And I started reading about fancy restaurants including a separate category on their wine lists for “rosés”. It didn’t take much research to get me rethinking my old prejudices. I’ve abandoned my preconception of white zinfandel as a typical pink or rosé wine. In fact, winemakers in Europe have been making rosés for decades, perhaps even centuries. And they make it in a very different style than the pink wine that became so popular in the United States in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
A little background is probably in order.
The first thing you have to know is that grape pulp and grape juice are, for the most part, clear. Wine is colored only when the juice comes into contact with grape skins during the winemaking process. White grapes tend to have light skins (typically a shade of light green), and the wine usually isn’t in contact with the skins for very long. White wine grapes are usually crushed and then immediately pressed to separately the juice from the skins, seeds and pulp. The juice is then fermented, and the rest of the grape is discarded. White wine is only white because it never is given a chance to stay in contact with grape skin long enough to develop color.
In contrast, most red wines are pressed, but then the skins remain with the juice, seeds and pulp while the whole thing undergoes fermentation. During fermentation, the skins tend to float on the top of the fermentation vessel, so the liquid is regularly pumped over the skins or the skins are stirred in with the juice. The result is that the juice extracts color from the skins. Once fermentation is complete, the grapes are pressed so that the thoroughly colored juice is separated from the skins, seeds and pulp.
The process for making pink or rosé wine is something of a cross between the white and red methods. Typically red grapes are crushed and then the juice is allowed to soak with the skins for some period of time in a process called “maceration”. This period may be as few as a couple hours or as long as a couple days, and it is just enough time to turn the juice pink. The grapes then are pressed and the resulting juice is fermented. This process yields a pink or “rosé” wine. In addition to extracting some color, the contact with the skins can give the wine some additional flavors and complexity and perhaps even a touch of tannin. But the overriding nature of wines made in this manner is light and refreshing.
This wine making process does not generally yield a sweet wine unless the winemaker takes affirmative steps to make it so. Except for white zinfandel and white merlot, which are fairly unusual in the wider wine world, most winemakers do not seek to make sweet rosés. Thus, when you are looking to purchase a rosé, know in advance whether you want one that’s sweet. You can tell by the reading the label in the case of most domestic wines. Foreign producers aren’t as helpful. A rule of thumb is that French and Spanish rosés are almost never sweet. If in doubt, never be afraid to ask the wine aisle manager or your server at a restaurant.
Rosés do not age. Look for recent vintage wine, and don’t hold it more than a few months. Also note that rosés are best served chilled. Like red wine, rosés often have a little bit more body and more complexity than white wines. And, as a bonus, they are food friendly and can be enjoyed both as a sipper or with food. All things considered, rosé is a very happy wine, indeed.
So if I’ve now persuaded you to give pink a try, here are a few I recommend. Give one of them a try or do your own taste test with one of the many pink wines on our local shelves.
2011 A to Z Wineworks Rosé (Oregon; about $9). Delicious with flavors of strawberries, watermelon and cherries; very crisp and refreshing.
2011 Abacela Grenache Rosé (Oregon; about $12). The aromas from the glass will make you think you’re about to drink a fruit salad – strawberries, pomegranate, watermelon and cherries; very, very good with food.
2011 E. Guigal Cote du Rhone Rosé (France; about $13). Fruity with raspberry and some citrus flavors. A little spicy, but light and refreshing.
2011 Kaiken Malbec Rosé (Argentina; about $13). Reminds me of a strawberry-rhubarb pie, without all the sugar.
Beringer White Zinfandel (California; about $8). If you like a little sweetness to your rosé, know that this is the best white zin out there. Refreshing, fruity, sweet and yet still crisp. Lots of watermelon, bubble gum and strawberry flavors.
Here in Prineville, a highlight of the summer season is the Crooked River Round Up, which always promotes its inspiring “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” campaign against breast cancer. It’s a worthy cause at a worthy event, so come the end of June as the weather warms and the boots and hats come out, let’s add another element to the season: Let’s not only show our security with our own maturity by wearing pink, let’s drink pink as well!
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