News & CultureAlan Richman's Wine Guide: RoséGQ's premier wine expert tells you everything you need to know about the always-chilled, often confusing summer classic We’ve all learned to serve wine at the proper temperature. Rosé, I’ve found, is the only wine that tastes best when it’s 75 degrees or hotter. I’m not talking about the temperature of the liquid in the glass. I’m referring to the temperature outside. Rosé should be chilled, of course, but it’s a wine for drinking outdoors, on a sizzling hot day. It’s the most seasonal of all wines, the seasons being late Spring through early Fall. Here’s something else you should know. You might think, as I once did, that a proper rosé is a blend of white and red grapes. Not true, except when it’s a sparkler. Rosé is almost never—except in rogue countries—a blend of red and white. Rosé is produced from red-wine (generally called "black") grapes and has a flavor profile resembling that of a red wine. The tastes and smells are often those associated with strawberries, raspberries, or cherries.

The color is a result of brief contact with the skin of those black grapes. (Color comes from the skin of the grape, not from the flesh of the grape.) Yet it’s vinified as though it were a white wine. Most people drink rosé on occasions when they would otherwise be selecting a white. best wine list london restaurantIt’s served cold, seldom if ever stains teeth, and rarely gives anyone a headache. best wine sayingDoes that sound like a wine made from black grapes to you? one hope wine logoAllow me to offer other insights into the weird world of rosé. good cheap wine reviewsMost people think of it as a sweet wine. large glass of wine cost

Not exactly a dessert wine, but one with noticeable residual sugar. I think sweet rosés are a mistake. That puts me at odds with practically the entire Rosé d’Anjou appellation, one of the most famous in France. Those wines are consistently sweet, which is why I never recommend them. wine buy 6 bottlesthey just have too much sugar for me. Sweet wines aren’t revitalizing on scorching hot days. Ice cold and darned dry is what you want under those conditions. Most people who don’t like sweet rosés came to their dislike honestly. For me, something of an old-timer, my fatal experience was drinking too much semi-sweet Mateus Rosé when I was young. For most of you, I would think the consumption of White Zinfandel—really somewhat of a sweet rosé—would have had the same effect. I’ve delayed too long in setting forth the virtues of rosé. It has a reputation of going well with every food, and that’s accurate.

However, there is one category of food with which it pairs exquisitely—the contents of a picnic basket. In addition, rosé has a simple, natural beauty that’s transcendent in sunshine. It seems to evoke the undeniable charm of Provence, even in people who have never been to Provence, and even if the wine was not made in Provence. Rosé simply feels like it’s from Provence, a beneficial hallucinatory quality. Finally, you won’t ever have to battle sommeliers when you order rosé. Ask for a white wine and those guys always want you to drink it too warm. They’re always trying to keep whites out of the ice bucket. Fortunately, they’re so uninterested in rosés they will good-naturedly serve them however a customer wants. You should want them very cold. The very best thing about rosé is that it comes with few expectations. All that’s required is that it be pretty and refreshing. What could be less demanding than that?See 17 Bottles of Rosé You Should TryThe pinker side of life..

When a wine isn’t quite red, it’s rosé. Technically speaking, this pinkish beverage is produced differently than red wine but with the same grapes. For example, White Zinfandel is produced with the same grapes as Red Zinfandel but the two wines are stunningly different. Learn all about Rosé wine, from the different styles and grapes to the varied flavors. Rosé wine is serious business –Seriously pink– The development of Rosé wine perhaps started with the popularity of Claret (“klar- ETT”)–a common style of red Bordeaux during the 1800’s. Back then, the Brits fawned over pale wines made with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Nowadays, Bordeaux wines have become bolder and darker to fit today’s red wine flavor profile. Rosé has earned a category of its own. * Commonl flavors in Rosé Wine Grenache, Cinsault, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir… nearly every wine grape has been used to make Rosé wine. Since the category has grown in popularity, there are more options than ever to choose from.

So where do you begin and what styles are the most popular? Need some more inspiration? See a visual chart to the different Types of WineThis style of Rosé wine is the most common style produced today around the world. France and Spain lead the way in Rosé wine production and it’s typical to see a blend of 2-3 different grape varieties. Here are the most common dry Rosé wine varieties used either alone or in a blend: Any Rosé wine can be produced in a sweet style by simply not fermenting all the sugar into alcohol. However, it is not as common and mostly reserved for bulk wine production. If you are on the search for a sweet rosé wine, the following wines will fit the bill: The epicenter of the Rosé wine world is in the South of France. There, along the Mediterranean, regional varieties like Grenache, Carignan and Syrah are blended together to make refreshingly dry Rosé. South of France Rosé: What to Look For The south of France is Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon or sometimes just labeled “Pays d’Oc”.

Wines from here smell of strawberries and raspberries and are refreshing with zesty acidity. If you are looking for quality, seek out wines with a high percentage of Grenache, Syrah or Mourvedre versus Carignan or Cinsault. Most Carignan and Cinsault are not as complex. The Rest of France: What to Look For Expect to find even drier and zippier Rosé wines from the Loire Valley. Flavors of grapefruit, mint and even red bell pepper are common. In Bordeaux, Rosé made from Merlot can lean towards the sweet side with aromatics of strawberry sauce and peaches. There are two major differences between making White wine and Rosé wine. First, Rosé wines use both white and red grape varieties. Second, standard Rosé winemaking looks a lot more like how white wine is made with an additional maceration time added in the beginning. “It’s all about timing.” The maceration method is most commonly used for commercial Rosé. Maceration is when the grapes are pressed and sit in their skins.

In red wine making, maceration usually lasts throughout the fermentation. For Rosé, the juice is separated from the skins before it gets too dark. For lighter varieties, like Grenache, it can take 24 hours. For darker red-wine varieties, like Mourvedre, the process sometimes only lasts a few hours. Vin Gris, translates to “Gray Wine” and is when red grapes are used to make a nearly-white wine. Vin Gris uses an extremely short maceration time. This style of Rosé winemaking is popular for the lighter red wine varieties such as Pinot Noir in the United States and Gamay or Cinsault in France. The Saignée method is capable of producing some of the longest lasting Rosé wines. It is actually a by-product of red winemaking. During the fermentation of a red wine about 10% of the juice is bled off. This process leaves a higher ratio of skin contact on the remaining juice, making the resulting red wine richer and bolder. The leftover bled wine or “Saignée” is then fermented into Rosé.