Styles and Terminology

A rosé is a wine whose call technically falls somewhere in the spectrum between red and white wine.

The two general ways to make rosé are;

The preferred way is to proceed as if you were making a red wine. Just after crushing the dark skinned grapes a short maceration (between 4-12 hours generally) of the juice on the skins occurs for a period long enough to extract the required amount of colour and tannins. The juice is then separated from the grape skins by pressing or draining and then fermentation proceeds as if you were making a white wine, either in barrel or in tank. This technique is known as Saignee in French, a term meaning ‘bled’.

The second way of making rosé is to blend a small amount of finished red wine into a finished white wine. This gives the wine a pinkish colour but the flavours are much less complex and less integrated than if the wine were made in the Saignee method. Wines made in this style tend to be more basic and entry-level in price and flavour structures.

Which Rosés?

We are trying to promote Rosé for grown ups – dry, savoury, textural, serious but not to be taken too seriously.

It can be made from single varieties or blended; variety incidental, what they share in common is that they are interesting and eminently quaffable.