How Do They Make Rosé Wines Pink?

Hi everyone, Erin here with Caravinos. This is a short video on how rosé wine gets its color because who doesn't love rosé

Obviously, if you found this video, you're a fan as well, so cheers for that and let's get started

Winemakers have four options to make rosé wines. These are maceration, direct press, saunier, and blending

Winemakers will need to decide on which method they'll use depending on the style of rosé wine they want to make and in some regions tradition

Market demand or what's popular at any given moment can also drive the process they decide to use

So let's jump into each of these types of rosé wine. Type number one is maceration

This is the most common method for making rosé wines. the winemaker takes red grapes like Grenache or Pinot Noir, crushes them to release the juice

then leaves the juice in contact with the skins for a period of time Sometimes this is as short as a few hours sometimes it can be two or more days The longer the juice is in contact with the grapes the darker the resulting wine

and the opposite's true too. Brief contact time means lighter pinks. Skin contact gives more body, texture, and flavor to the wine

so expect a darker pink rosé to be fuller body than a sandy-colored pink wine

Once the juice achieves the desired color, the winemaker drains the juice off the skins

and starts fermentation. Method number two for crafting rosé wines is called direct press

also called vin gris in French or gray wine. Here the winemaker uses red grapes and presses the

grapes directly after harvest, but this wine style's goal is a very lightly colored wine

Direct press can make the lightest color of rosé wines in fact, which is currently in vogue. Just

how light can rosé wine be? Direct-pressed rosés can take on a white peach or even

sandy hue with no pink at all Alright the third technique for ros wines is the saunier method which translates to bleeding You may see either of these terms on a ros bottle label

Not to worry, there's no blood in your wine. The winemaker crushes red grapes and lets the wine sit

again for a few hours to a few days and then drains off a portion of the juice, which is now pink

from a larger tank of red wine grapes. The main tank is destined to make a regular red wine

The rosé juice can be any shade of pink from pale blush to vibrant magenta

The winemaker uses this method to craft fuller-bodied, more concentrated red wines if they want

and also be able to sell a rosé wine which diversifies their inventory for sale

Here's a small carboyer rosé Cabernet Sauvignon that's currently aging in my Garagiste winemaking project

I used the Saunier method to concentrate my Cabernet Sauvignon to create a fuller-bodied, dry red wine

I left the juice for this rosé with the larger tank of cab for about two days

It gorgeous and I am so excited to try it in another few months Okay my digression over Let move on The final method for making ros wine is also the least common

which is blending red and white wines together. Though it makes logical sense that marrying a red and white wine makes a pink wine

we do this with oil painting, blending these two wine styles isn't widely practiced

But some winemakers do blend red and white wines to make rosé wine

This method, the blending method, is what they use for pink champagnes or pink sparkling wines

The base wine for pink champagne is almost always white, and then the Chef Ducal blends in a tiny portion of red wine to change the wine's hue and make it a lovely shade of pink

So, that's everything you need to know about rosé wine and how these delicious pinks get their color

The next time you're admiring the jeweled hue of a particularly gorgeous rosé, be sure to raise a glass to the winemaker

because they did that just for you. That's it. Until next time, drink well