Rosé is made from red grapes given brief contact with their skins. That contact gives the wine its color.
Rosé is red wine grapes with brief skin contact. The longer the juice sits on the skins, the deeper the color and the fuller the wine. Direct press, juice off the skins at once, is the most common way.
Color is a clue you can read before you taste. Pale usually means light and delicate. Deeper usually means fuller and more structured.
Skin contactAlmost none. The juice leaves the skins at once.
A rosé's color comes from the grape skins, not the juice, which is nearly clear. Here the grapes are pressed and the juice is separated from the skins right away, so it picks up only a little color. The result is pale and light. This is the most common method.
A few red grapes do most of the work. Each brings its own flavor, and some give more color than others.
The grape shapes the flavor and how dark a rosé can get. Grape and skin contact work together to set the style.
BringsRed fruit, soft and round. The backbone of many rosé blends.
Leads inProvence, the Rhône, Spain
Where a rosé comes from shapes its style. These are the world's top rosé regions, from pale and crisp to deep and full.
The region on a label tells you the likely style before you open the bottle.
Rosé has high acidity and a light to medium body, which makes it one of the easiest wines to match with food.
High acidity refreshes and cuts richness. A light body stays out of the food's way. That is why rosé fits so many dishes.
Bright acidity lifts fresh greens and vinaigrette without weighing the plate down.
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