French wines - Rose

Wines - French Rose


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French Rosé wines

With the exception of Champagne Rosé which is a blend, rosé wine is not a mix of red and white wines. It is made using red wine grapes. There are two ways of achieving a rosé wine:

Pale rosé is made by removing the colouring elements very soon after pressing, from only a few hours up to two days depending on the colour required and the strength of colour of the red grape. The result is a very delicate colour and a white wine flavour because it is the skin that contains the tannin.


The alternative (Saignée) is to proceed as for a red wine, keeping the skin in with the flash of the grape, and then to draw off some of the liquid as the process continues. In this case, the rosé is a by-product of red wine making, the red wine produced has a stronger colour and flavour.

In the USA the term “blush” has been used for a rosé produced using the second “Saignée” method from a Cabernet. The name was originally a joke, but then used seriously and has been adopted in various places such as Australia and Italy.

The Champagne Rosé, which has a number of producers, is a high quality sparkling wine that is produced as a blend of champagne and red wine. Having said that, the better producers prefer to create their sparkling rosés using the “correct” technique rather than using a blend.