Color of rosé has little to do with its sweetness
It’s a common misconception that pale-colored rosé is always better quality than bright pink rosés. The reason for the misconception could be that the old-style, sweet California white zinfandel generally has a deep pink color. But as rosé continues to grow in popularity with a wider selection available in our market, it is important to better understand just what gives rosé its color and what color has to do with taste.
But first a refresher on how red, white and rosé wines are made. After the grapes are pressed, the juice, which is generally clear, is either left on the skins (red wine) or separated from the skins (white wine). With rosé, the juice is left on the skins just until the juice takes on the desired color (and tannins) from the skins.
If you wore a blindfold while tasting rosé it would be impossible to guess the color just by the taste.
A rosé wine’s color varies depending on several factors: the amount of skin contact during fermentation, whether there was contact with oak and the specific grapes used. The most important may be the grape variety. Grapes with thicker skins provide more potential for color extraction.
Sweetness, however, has little to do with the skin contact and color. Sweetness happens in a couple of different ways. Those wines with the horrible reputation of tasting like candy are usually the result of the winemaker’s actually adding sugar to the finished wine. Those with slight sweetness and balance are the result of the fermentation being stopped before the sugar has been exchanged for alcohol.
Not all pale rosé wines are dry and light just the same as not all dark rosé wines are sweeter. Many assume the color and sweetness correlate but the deeper the color just means the wine had more grape skin contact or it was made from a thick-skinned grape variety. Tannin, on the other hand, is a little different. Because darker rosé wines have spent more time on the skins they will generally pick up more tannic structure and be fuller-bodied styles.
For your tasting homework consider trying different styles of rosé not based on regions but grape. In this exploration, you will most likely find the style you prefer and quickly see it has little to do with color.
THE VALUES
Carmenere 2018 Apaltagua Rosé of Carmenere, Chile (about $13 retail) Tempranillo 2018 Marques De Caceres Rosé Rioja, Spain (about $13 retail) Malbec 2018 Calcu Dry Rosé, Chile (about $14 retail) 2018 Crios Rosé of Malbec, Argentina (about $15 retail) Pinot Gris 2018 Charles Smith Band of Roses Rosé, Washington (about $15 retail) Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah 2018 La Vieille Ferme Rosé, France (about $11 retail)
THE SPLURGES
Pinot Noir 2018 Presqu’ile Rosé of Pinot Noir, California (about $24 retail) 2018 Belle Glos Pinot Noir Rosé, California (about $22 retail) 2018 Hahn Pinot Rosé, California (about $20 retail) 2018 Daniel Chotard Sancerre Rosé, France (about $25 retail) Syrah 2018 Decoy Rosé, California (about $22 retail) Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah 2018 By.Ott Cotes de Provence, France (about $28 retail) Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 Chateau Lamouroux Rosé, France (about $23 retail)