Not all rosé wines are created equal – in colour at least! At one extreme, the palest of pale pink which you could mistake for a white wine, to the other, a deep rich red which would put some light reds in the shade. Look at this:
Why the difference in colour? All the colour of rosé or red wine comes from the pigment in the skin of black grapes, and some grapes have thicker skins and so more pigment than others. From the delicate, thin-skinned Pinot Noir at one end to the coarse, thick-skinned Syrah at the other. And the colour also depends on how long you leave the juice in contact with the skins – it could be as short as 4 hours to as long as 48 hours; the longer the deeper.
Fun Fact: Which appellation in France produces only rosé, i.e. no white or red? TAVEL
We have drunk quite a range of rosé this Summer from a whole range of grape varieties, countries, styles, price levels and more. It’s been fun. Here are a few with the grape variety in bold:
Domaine de la Paleine, Saumur
(Cabernet Franc)
€9, Cellar Door
Muga Rosado, Rioja
(Garnacha/Tempranillo/Viura)
£10, Waitrose
Sancerre les Tuilièries
(Pinot Noir)
£11.25, Majestic
Cellier Saint Sidoine, Cotes de Provence
(Grenache/Syrah/Carignan/Cinsault)
£14, Davys
Catena Argentina, Finest Rose
(Malbec)
£9, Tesco
Te Awa Left Field, Hawkes Bay New Zealand
(Merlot/Pinotage/Arneis)
£12, Waitrose
Domaine Maby, Cuvee Prima Donna
(Grenache)
£12, Wine Society
Valserrano Rosado, Rioja
(Mazuelo (Carignan))
€9, Cellar Door
The quirkiest of these has got to be the New Zealand wine which is very strange blend of black grapes from France and South Africa and a white grape from Italy! Not quite sure that this worked but it was certainly ‘interesting’!