Jun. 27, 2012 - Issue #871: Edmonton 2012
Veni, Vidi, Vino
A bottle full of secrets
Rosé wines overcome the stigma of cheap pinks
This isn't your mother's White Zinfandel. For years I avoided any and all pink wines (also known as rosé or blush wines) because of the stigma of cheap pinks like White Zin and Mateus: it seemed impossible that a wine of that colour could be anything other than cloyingly sweet and poorly made. But while this may have been the case a couple decades ago, times have changed for the better and pink wines have become posh.Despite what their colour might indicate, pink wines are often dry—sometimes bracingly so. And while a hint of sweetness isn't uncommon, rest assured that it's usually balanced by a good dose of refreshing acidity. Common aromas and flavours include raspberries and strawberries, hints of flowers, and sometimes an herbal/grassy underpinning. Pink wines are best served fairly chilled, almost as much as a white wine (and feel free to ice the hell out of them on really hot days), and they are easily quaffed on their own. But if you fancy a glass of pink with dinner, they pair well with salmon and tuna, as well as pork, duck, chicken and vegetable dishes.
An extremely useful food and wine pairing tip is the rule of origin: wines tend to pair best with foods that come from the same region. So if you're having a Mediterranean dish that's heavy on the garlic and herbs, choose a wine from that region—pink wines from southern France, specifically the regions of Provence and the Rhone Valley, usually have herbal qualities which makes them natural partners to similarly flavoured foods. Pink wines are made all around the world, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding one to pair with just about anything—but keep in mind that, like red and white wines, pinks from the New World countries (United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand) tend to be much more fruit-forward than Old World (European) versions.
A common assumption is that pink wine is made by simply blending white wine with red wine. While it can be made this way (and you can even do this in your own glass, were you so inclined), I strongly advise against blended pinks: this is the method used for those cheap, mass-produced blush wines and they are usually pretty crappy. The notable exception is pink Champagne, which is very delicious and is the only instance in which blending white and red wine is legal in France.
Most good quality pink wines are made using the "skin contact" method—this is where red grapes are crushed and the juice is left to soak in the same container as the skins for a short period of time (usually only a day or two) before the juice is drawn off into another vessel to ferment. The longer this soak time (called "maceration"), the darker and more intense the finished wine will be.
A second process, called saignée (French for "bleeding") is when a pink wine is made as a by-product of red wine production: during maceration and fermentation, the winemaker decides he wants a smaller juice-to-grape skin ratio, so he bleeds off some of the juice. (This makes for a more intensely flavoured red wine, since most of the flavour comes from the skins.) Winemakers will then ferment and bottle the pink juice separately—because why waste perfectly good wine? V
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