Wine Education: Rosé - how are they made

Wine Tasting at all FOUR locations

Taste these three different methods of Rosé wines:
2012 Chateau de Lancyre Rose….$17.99
2012 Pink Pegau…$21.99
2012 Chateau du Donjon Minervois Rose…$14.99
at all four of our locations this Saturday, April 27 from 11am-4pm. 
(each store will also have other wines out to taste)

A little more education: We are going to try to feature either a grape, a wine region, or something educational about wine each week at our stores. We will give you some background information and feature a wine(s) that highlights what we are featuring. We will taste that wine on Saturday at all four of our locations. We will post it here in our blog and send it out in our emails - click here to sign up for our emails

I have started a new label "Education" that you can hit to read all the education articles (see the right column under the heading "labels".

Making Rose Wine
A Rosé (from French: rosé also known as rosado in Portugal and Spanish-speaking countries or rosato in Italy) is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. There are 4 main methods for making a rose wine, rather than delve into the history of Rose we are going to focus on the methods of making Rose.

1.  Limited Maceration Method: Rosés can be produced in a variety of ways with the most common method being early pressing of red grape varieties after a very short period, usually 12-24 hours, of skin-contact (maceration). During maceration, phenolics such as the anthocyanins and tannins that contribute to color as well as many flavor components are leached from the skins, seeds and any stems left in contact with the must. In addition to adding color and flavor, these phenolics also serve as antioxidants, protecting the wine from degradation of oxygen exposure. While red wines will often have maceration last several days to even several weeks, the very limited maceration of rosés means that these wines will have less stable color, potential flavor components and oxygen protection. 
2012 Chateau de Lancyre Rose….$17.99

2. Vin Gris Method: Unlike the maceration method which gives some, albeit very brief, time for the juice to be in contact with the skins vin gris are wines made from the immediate pressing of red skin grapes without any maceration time. Despite the name vin gris, the resulting juice is actually not grey but rather a very pale pink that is usually much lighter than traditionally made rosés using the limited maceration and saignee methods. Under French wine laws, wines labeled gris de gris must only be made from lightly tinted grape varieties such as Cinsault, Gamay and Grenache gris.
2012 Pink Pegau…$21.99

3. Saignee Method:. The saignee (French for "bleed") method is the practice of removing ("bleeding off") some of the juice from the must in order to more deeply concentrate the phenolics, color and flavor the red wine. The Saignee method is used most often in regions famous for their red wine production, i.e. Burgundy, The Rhone Valley and Bordeaux.
2012 Chateau du Donjon Minervois Rose…$14.99

4. Blending Method: This method is used almost exclusively in the production of Rose Champagne. In this method a small amount of still Red Wine is blended back in to the finished Champagne in order to achieve the Rose color. Many producers of Rose Champagne believe this method adds richness and enhances the ageability of their Rose Champagnes.