Rose Wines

November 16, 2020 | By Peg Kern

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What’s a rose wine, and how does it get it’s pink hue? First, as you (hopefully) realize, the dark color in red wines comes from the skins – when the grapes are crushed, the resulting “must” is left to macerate with the skins and seeds. For white wines, the skins are removed right away (or almost immediately), and for rose wines, the maceration is abbreviated, usually lasting one to three days.

Although the short maceration stage is usually the way Rose wines get their distinctive color, there are other methods, including blending (of white and red wines), and saignée (which is similar to maceration – some of the juice is “bled off” during the maceration during the making of red wine, and that “extra” juice is made into rose wines).

The result, we think, can be delicious, and roses have been growing in popularity in recent years. Many of the destinations we travel to feature wonderful rose wines, and sometimes even on the estate where our clients stay! For instance, our friends the Baracchis of our Cooking Under the Tuscan Sun itinerary make a wonderful rose sparkler. Our friends at the Chateau de Berne in sunny Provence produce a number of wonderful roses, including one made with Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and another “Grande Recolte” made from Cinsault and Grenache. They also have a wonderful rose sparkler, “Rose Wild Pig.”

Learn more about Rose wines.

In addition to our itineraries on wine-producing estates, we also have many options in wine producing regions – such as our Provencal cooking vacations near Tavel, one of the most famous rose-producing regions in the world, not to mention the wonderful Rose wines you can sample during our cooking vacations in Portugal.