What exactly is rosé wine?
Rosé wine is all the rage and very popular, especially in summer. But how exactly is this type of wine produced? It’s quite common to encounter the seemingly obvious assumption that it involves pressing both white and blue grapes, or that it’s simply a blend of white wine and red wine. But it’s not quite as simple a process as that for winegrowers.
The key points
- Rosé wine is produced from blue grapes.
- The colour comes from the grape skins.
- Brief mash fermentation creates a slight colouring.
- Rosé wines are fermented red wines that have brief skin contact.
- Rotling is a blend of red wine and white wine, not a rosé.
- Champagne can be described as rosé if it’s made from both types of wine.
How is rosé wine produced?
In wine bars, restaurants and bistros, but especially on terraces in summer and at lively garden parties, ‘pink’ is considered to be the fashionable colour of the season. Rosé wine is all the rage and especially during the warmer season it’s very popular as a refreshing all-round wine and a pleasant alternative to red. But how exactly is rosé wine produced?
Essentially, rosé wine is produced exclusively from the blue grapes from which red wines are also made. But these blue grapes almost always have a light, often even colourless juice. So where then does the dark colour come from? This question is easy to answer because the blue and red pigments are found in the grape skins.
To explain how rosé wine is produced, you first need to take a closer look at how red wine and white wine are produced: red wine production involves simply fermenting the grape skins together with the juice to release their colour. This is then referred to as mash fermentation. By contrast, with white wine production one refers to pure must fermentation. This is where only the juice of the grape is fermented, without the skins.
The process of releasing the pigments from the mash for a red wine usually takes a few days. However, if this process is interrupted after just a few hours, only a small amount of pigment will have been released from the skins. The must, which will then continue to ferment without the skins, will then only have acquired a slight, light red colour and so can ultimately be bottled as rosé wine.
Can you blend red wine and white wine to produce rosé wine?
The method involving blending does actually exist. Pink wines are produced using this very blend. However, this type of wine can’t be referred to as rosé, but in Germany is given the slightly strange-sounding name Rotling. Examples of wines in this category are the Schillerwein in Württemberg or the Rotgold in Baden.
So rosé wines in the true sense are just fermented red wines that have brief contact with grape skins. There’s just one wine that is an exception: with champagne the term rosé can in fact also be used if the basic wine is made from a blend of white and red wine. For instance, there are plenty of rosé champagnes that were produced almost exclusively from the white Chardonnay grape and to which only a small percentage of red wine has been added to provide colour and refine the taste.
The author
Frank Kämmer
I have worked for many years in high-end restaurants and in this time became one of the top sommeliers in Europe. In 1996, I achieved the title of Master Sommelier, the highest international qualification in my profession. Today, I work primarily as a consultant in the international wine and gastronomy sector. I have also published numerous books on wines and spirits and was the first German to be accepted into the British Circle of Wine Writers.
