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It’s Time for Serious Rosé Wine…

Rosé wine glasses, Vins de Provence

Elizabeth Gabay MW is one of the world’s foremost experts on rosé wines. She is the author of two major reference guides, Rosé: Understanding the Pink Wine Revolution and Rosés of Southern France. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Gabay about what’s new in serious rosé wine (aka the world beyond the pale, poolside pink wines that flood our wine store shelves each spring). 

What do you find are the most interesting trends in the world of rosé wines?

I think one of the big problems when we talk about premium rosé trends is, it’s like talking about trends in cru classé Bordeaux or Domaine Romanée Conti. It is such a small percentage of rosé production. 90% of rosé that I taste is aiming at the same pale, dry, bland commercial style.

Though, where serious rosé wine is concerned, a small contingent of producers are experimenting. They are looking at things like the porosity of cement or amphora to minimize reductive character. They’re looking at different barrels to soften tannins. I’m working with a rosé vinified in acacia.

So, there is that happening. And then on the other side, there is the natural wine movement.

Is natural wine playing an important role in rosé wine?

I think natural winemakers are incredibly important for the rosé category because you’ve got people who are breaking down the rules. They’re doing things like solera rosé, much more spontaneous fermentation, and so on.

Last week I tasted a Greek Moschofilero “rosé” for Decanter. It is basically a gris coloured grape which spends a week on the skins and turns a shade of dark pink, but it has all the texture of a skin contact white wine.

We tasted a rosé from Uruguay which was 50% red and 50% white grapes blended together to make a rosé. It does all its fermentation on the skins, so is it an orange wine? A red? A white? Is it rosé? It’s a sort of fusion.

These wines only represent about 2% of rosé production, but I find them really exciting.

What do you like most about them?

Personally, I really like funky rosé. I am looking for the Picasso, I’m not looking for the pretty picture. I’m looking for a wine that is going to challenge me. It may not be yacht worthy, but if it has made me sit up and think, I am happy.

For me, texture is quite an important element for serious rosé wine. This is why cement or oak are quite good, or a bit of skin contact. I love spontaneous fermentation on rosé. One reason you won’t get it in bulk stuff is that they want the rosé to be ready for the en-primeur market in January. That rush to get the new vintage in market by Easter is very destructive on rosé.

As natural wine becomes more mainstream, do you think we will see more rosé producers embracing a lower interventionist style?

It’s not really hitting rosé in a major way yet because too many people see rosé as swimming pool wine so why would you bother doing anything funky with it? It’s almost as though its very success has killed off creativity.

At present, the premium rosé people aren’t talking to the natural people, so we’ve got these different branches splitting off. I would like premium rosé producers to take off their blinkers and have the confidence to say, you know what we could actually learn from each other.

Is this lack of confidence driven by consumers? Are people simply not interested in drinking more diverse rosé styles? Or more expensive rosés?

I think this is a major problem with rosé and it is something I am trying to work with. If you look at restaurant wine lists, there is a huge selection of white and red wines. They don’t do that for rosé. The trade is not showing consumers how they can branch out or move up in the rosé sector.  Rosé is between 10 and 50% of sales, depending on country and time of year. Why should it only be one or two options on a restaurant wine list?

Even if someone went to a Michelin starred restaurant and wanted to drink rosé, they wouldn’t have more than a few, quite similar choices, none of them of the quality level expected in such a restaurant.

This is a very good point. Where do you think we could see increased diversity in rosé wines? You mentioned some of the winemaking experimentation that is happening. What about grape varieties? I spoke to a Provence winery last week who felt the only truly great grape for rosé is Grenache…

Every big producer in Southern France feels this way and I absolutely don’t agree. It is as though you interviewed a Burgundy producer who said, you know what, the only grape that makes fine red wine is Pinot Noir. This is blinkered thinking.

Grenache is not the only great variety to make good rosé. It is a great variety that makes rosé within a specific style. One of the big problems is that Grenache oxidises really easily, so producers tend to make it using a 100% reductive method. That means fermenting dead cold with cultured yeasts that give a grapefruit character. Is that the best rosé in the world, really? Absolutely not.

There are plenty of excellent rosé grapes: Negroamaro from Puglia, Grenache blended with Tempranillo as they do in Rioja, Xinomavro, Blaufränkisch. They all make great rosé.

Do you see any countries that could be real competitors for France in terms of having a strong identity linked with rosé winemaking?

There are lots and lots of excellent rosé producers around the world but there is no one with the same cohesion as Provence. That is why they are so successful. For 30 years they’ve had a very cohesive marketing policy. They’ve created their identity. And they’ve stuck to it.

We don’t get a lot of rosés from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or California in Europe so I can’t comment there. However, I taste widely across Europe and so many regions are struggling not to make a Provence style rosé. I ask them to send examples that aren’t Provence imitations, and they really have a problem there. Tavel is really the only rosé-based region that is sticking to its individual style and even there, there is some dispute on the direction the appellation is taking.

There is a growing group of top rosé estates in Rioja, but we’re talking about 10 wineries. There is fantastic rosé in places like Greece and Austria as well, but it is isolated producers, and their heart isn’t in it.

Ben (Bernheim, co-author of Rosés of Southern France) likes to ask wineries making good rosé, “if there was a fire, which vines would you save, the red wine grapes or the rosé”? It is always the red. It’s a bit sad really.

Having said all of that, I am very excited by the high quality of roses that are increasingly being produced. So, it’s not a negative thing, it is just that there is a lot more work to actually bring it together.

Elizabeth Gabay MW

Five serious rosé wines on Elizabeth Gabay’s radar right now…

  1. Tête de Cuvée, Château Maissy, Tavel
  2. Clos Cibonne, Côtes de Provence
  3. Ekato Moschofilero, Ktima Troupis, Greece
  4. Giana Masciarelli Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, Italy
  5. Rosato Reserva, Quinta da Cuca, Douro, Portugal

This “Serious Rosé Wine” piece is re-printed (with permission) from my article written for Good Food Revolution. If you want to learn more about artisanal food, wine, beer and spirits, check out their excellent website.

Education

HOW TO FIND THE BEST ROSÉ WINES

best rosé wines

You know that spring has arrived when stacks of rosé wine start hitting the wine shops. From still to sparkling, dry to sweet, pale pink to deep fuscia , there is a huge diversity of styles when it comes to rosé. This can make finding the best rosé wines to suit your palate a little tricky!

What is Rosé?

Rosé is essentially a paler, lighter bodied version of red wine. It is generally made with red wine grape varieties. The difference is that rosé wines spend as little as a few hours, or up to two to three days, in contact with their skins, before being pressed and then fermented like white wine. Red wines are macerated on their skins for far longer (anywhere from one to three weeks).   Rosé’s shorter maceration period means that the colouring pigments, aromatic compounds, and tannins found in grape skins have less time to leach into the wine, resulting in paler wines, with more delicate aromas and softer tannins.

What Grape Varieties are used to Make Rosé?

Each rosé producing country and region has its favourite grape varieties. I have tasted rosé wines made from dozens of different grapes, but some of the most popular varieties include:

  • Grenache: fragrant raspberry aromas, moderate acidity, high alcohol
  • Syrah: dark fruit & spice flavours, fresh acidity, firm structure, tannic
  • Cinsault: light, perfumed (ripe to candied red berries), refreshing, low tannins
  • Vermentino (aka Rolle): minor white grape used in Côtes de Provence rosé blends. Said to accentuate aromatics and give subtle saline nuances on the finish.
  • Pinot Noir: elegant, with tart red berry and floral notes, crisp acidity, low to moderate tannins
  • Sangiovese: high, crisp acidity, sometimes a faint sour cherry bitterness, generally very dry
  • Cabernet Sauvignon: similar aromas as the red wine, if more restrained: bell pepper, black currant notes, crisp, medium bodied, with a firm structure, subtle tannic grip
  • Zinfandel: overt candied red and black fruit, often produced in a simple, low alcohol, sweet style

How much or how little the chosen grape variety(ies) influence the style of the wine depends on how long the rosé macerates on its grape skins, and what percentage of each grape is used if a blend of two or more varieties is made.

Fun Fact about Rosé Wine!

Thanks to a big celebrity boost and some clever social media campaigns, rosé wine has skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade. Despite what you might think though, rosé is far from a new wine style. The Greeks were making rosé wines in the colony of Massilia (Marseille) back in 600 B.C. Long after the Romans arrived and started producing fuller-bodied red wines, the pale pink Provincia Romana wines remained popular.

Different Rosé Styles

The stylistic range of rosé wine is immense. From light-bodied, refreshing, bone-dry rosés to sweet, low alcohol, fruity rosés, and elegant sparkling rosés, there is definitely a rosé wine out there for you.  The major styles include:

Sparkling rosé 

The majority of sparkling rosé wines follow the same initial winemaking as still rosés, followed by a secondary fermentation in tank or bottle to render the wines effervescent. Depending on the region, they can be mono-varietal wines or blends, and tend to have a fairly similar profile to their sparkling white counterparts, with more vibrant fruit, and a slightly weightier, rounder mid-palate. In Champagne, rosé is produced by blending still white wines and red wines together. This gives a slightly firmer, more structured style of sparkling rosé.

Try these styles:

  • Champagne rosé, France (generally Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier blends)
  • Franciacorta rosé, Italy (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc blends)
  • Cava Rosado, Spain (a blend of white Cava grapes with a minimum of 25% red grapes including: Garnacha, Monastrell, Pinot Noir or Trepat)

Pale Pink to Salmon Coloured, Dry Rosé

Pale coloured rosé wine is generally “direct pressed”. This means that the grapes are only in contact with their skins for a very brief period (4 – 6 hours is common). This style of rosé tends to have fairly restrained aromas ranging from pink grapefruit, to subtle red berry notes, to floral or herbal nuances. They are light in body, often quite crisp and refreshing, with a bone dry finish. Pale, dry rosé is a great alternative to crisp white wines for pre-supper sipping.

Try these styles:

  • Côtes-de-Provence, France (Grenache or Cinsault dominant blends from Provence)
  • Côtes-du-Rhône or Costières-de-Nîmes, France (Grenache, Syrah led blends from the Southern Rhône)
  • Pale Spanish rosado (Tempranillo-led blends from Navarra or Rioja)

Coral to Fuscia Coloured, Dry Rosé

Medium to dark coloured rosé wine is often fermented on its skins like a red wine for anywhere from 10 to 36 hours, before being drawn off its skins and finishing fermentation in a separate vessel. This process is called “saignée” which literally means bleeding off. Rosés made in this style tend to have more intense fruity aromas, a weightier mouthfeel, and firmer structure. They can also have subtle tannic grip on the finish. This denser style of rosé will pair well with a variety of lighter fare. You can serve it in place of light red wines.

Try these styles:

  • Tavel, France (Grenache dominant blends from the Southern Rhône Valley)
  • Navarra, France (Garnacha single varietal wines)
  • Bandol, France (Mourvèdre dominant blends, South Eastern France)
  • Marsannay, France (Pinot Noir from Burgundy) or Sancerre rosé (Pinot Noir, Loire Valley)

Sweet Rosé

Off-dry to sweet styles of rosé have a long-standing and staunchly loyal following. They are often quite low in alcohol, with overtly fruity/candied flavours, and a smooth, rounded palate. Sweetness levels vary from subtle to pronounced. They can be anywhere from pale pink to deep fuscia in colour. These rosé styles are perfect for wine lovers with a sweet tooth.

Try these styles:

  • White Zinfandel, California (medium sweet, low 9 – 10% alcohol, moderate acidity)
  • Pink Moscato, California & Australia (Mosato, often blended with a touch of Merlot, medium sweet to sweet, very low 7.5 to 9% alcohol, moderate acidity, still and semi-sparkling versions)
  • Rosé d’Anjou, France (mainly Grolleau grape, medium sweet, low 10% alcohol, brisk acidity, Loire Valley)
  • Cabernet d’Anjou, France (Cabernet Franc and/ or Cabernet Sauvignon, off-dry, Loire Valley)

Oak Aged, Premium Rosé

Don’t be surprised if you see rosé wines well over the 30$ mark on wine store shelves these days. Many of these, especially from the rosé hot spot of Provence, are starting to employ fine white winemaking techniques for rosé. This treatment is usually reserved for the estate’s best parcels of old vines. Vinification practices include barrel fermentation, lees stirring, long barrel ageing, and so forth. The result is a concentrated yet voluptuous style of rosé with a creamy, layered texture and a complex array of subtle fruity, spicy and woody nuances.

Try these wines:

  • Côtes-de-Provence top cuvées such as: Château d’Esclans “Garrus”, Clos Cibonne “Cuvée Speciale des Vignette”
  • Bandol, France: Château Romassan (owned by Domaine Ott)
  • Rioja, Spain: López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rosado
  • Abruzzo, Italy: Valentini Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo

 

Expert Tips to Get Maximum Enjoyment from your Next Glass of Rosé Wine!