WORLD OF WINE
Summertime is Rosé Time BY MIRA HONEYCUTT
R
osé all day! The popular phrase couldn’t be more appropriate than on a hot summer day. The quintessential wine from France’s Provence region, known as the epicenter of the pinkhued rosé, has in recent years become all the rage in the US.
So, what’s a rosé wine?
It’s not a blend of red wine and white wine. Rosé wines are made from blue/black grapes that produce red wines. And rosé is not a blush wine, which is indeed made by blending red and white wine. However, in France’s Champagne region, most of the rosé wine is made with a small amount of red wine added to the champagne for the pink color. This is the only French wine blend that can be called a rosé and is allowed only in the Champagne region. Traditionally, rosé was a by-product of red wine production. Known as saignée (French for bleeding), the process involves draining or “bleeding” off a portion of juice from a tank of red wine grapes. The “bled-off ” juice is fermented as rosé leaving the rest of the juice for a concentrated red wine. Here Rosé becomes a by-product of red wine. Steve Martell, owner/winemaker at Kaleidos Wine in Paso Robles’ Tin City, is among the few in the Paso wine region to apply the saignée approach for his salmon-tinted 2021 rosé effusive with white peach notes. “I primarily use this technique with grenache, which is generally a lighter color with less tannin than other Rhone varieties such as syrah,” Martell explained. The 10 percent of drained pink juice leaves a more concentrated red wine from the grenache grapes. Although the saignée is still used by a few winemakers, the now popular “maceration” method is taking over, where rosé is the goal, not a by-product. Grapes for intentional rosé wine production are harvested early and as in red wine production, the juice of the grapes sits in contact with the skins from several hours to a few days until the juice turns the shade of pink desired by the winemaker and has enough time to extract some of the phenols, pigments, and tannins. The pink juice is then drained and transferred to tanks for fermentation. Guillaume Fabre, owner/winemaker at Clos Solène,
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prefers the maceration method, picking grapes early at his 18-acre vineyard in the Willow Creek District on Paso Robles’ westside. The early picking, noted Fabre, can result in some grapes that are still green and others ripe. “That’s the beauty of rosé,” he said. A lively wine with crisp acidity, the Clos Solene 2021 La Rosé is a blend of grenache, mourvèdre, cinsault and syrah. The wine has such a pale onion-skin color that it could be mistaken for white wine. Chris Cameron, director of winemaking at Paso Robles’ Broken Earth Winery, uses a different approach, what he calls a hybrid method. Cameron harvests the grenache early for rosé, the fruit is de-stemmed and crushed to a red wine fermentor. “I start the ferment and monitor color pickup over the first 24-36 hours. I then run the juice off skins and complete both ferments.” So, Cameron ends up with two styles of wines: a varietal red grenache wine and a rosé of grenache. Rosé wines are typically made from grapes native to France’s southern Rhône region, varieties such as grenache, syrah, mourvèdre and cinsault. But here on the Central Coast, winemakers craft brilliant rosés from Bordeaux varieties like cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, and malbec as well as other popular red wine grapes such as zinfandel, tempranillo, pinot noir, and sangiovese. Many of these varieties can also be blended to produce a rosé. Ranging from palest of pinks to salmon and deephued shades of raspberry, rosés are crisp on the palate and redolent of flavors such as watermelon, rose petals, melon and strawberry. Rosé is best served cold at a temperature of 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of its fresh and fruity profile, rosé wine is best enjoyed young. However, deep-hued rosés from Provence’s Bandol region produced from mourvèdre are noted for their age-ability. The versatility of rosé allows it to pair well with salads, seafood and grilled poultry and meats. So, this summer for a poolside picnic or a barbecue reach for a refreshing rosé.
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7/19/22 4:54 PM
