As I write today I’m wearing a pink shirt to remind myself on this gray day that spring and summer are just around the corner. When the days grow longer, the sun is out more and temperatures warm our consumption of dry rosè increases. We never really stop consuming it during the shorter colder days but it is more of a focus in summer. With its lower alcohol dry clean and refreshing palate and light fruit flavors it is the perfect summer drink, perfect with food off the grill and dining alfresco!

Our most popular rosè each year is without a doubt the Pink Belly rosè of Grenache from Skylark Wine Company and John Lancaster, it arrives this week. John sent a sample bottle for us to try a couple of weeks back and it is indeed fabulous again. Bone dry, lovely mineral, floral and light strawberry aromas. A clean and crisp palate loaded with more ripe spring berry flavors, I can feel the sun on my face now… It is the same price as previous years and despite a generous allocation it will be gone in a matter of weeks as the following for this wonderful wine continues to grow.

Rosè remains a mystery and generates a feeling of confliction for many wine consumers. We are conflicted from our not so pleasant recollection of those sweet and cloying white Zinfandels. We remember those right? No acid in the wine, loaded with residual sugar, many consumers don’t recall that the first white Zinfandel was the result of a cellar “mistake.” The winery we are speaking of was fermenting Zinfandel grapes when the fermentation “stuck.” This means the yeast had died off before converting the sugar in the grapes to alcohol, try as they might the winemaking team could not get the fermentation started again. So what to do? They pumped the wine off the skins and bottled it, millions of cases later the rest is history. Sadly though it ruined the appetite for any pink wine for quite some time.

We are only now seeing the peak of the resurgence of great dry rosè. Like those delicious wines made in the Provence region of France and the aforementioned Pink Belly. The mystery part comes in for wine consumers in how the wines are made. How do you get the light pink color? Why are the wines lower in alcohol and higher in acid? Why are the great ones dry and others overly sweet?

First of all for the color. If you grab any red grape and squeeze it the juice from will run clear. The color in red wine and for that matter rosè comes from the fermenting grape juice being in contact with the grape skins. The color is extracted from the skins turning the juice red or more accurately purple. When winemakers are making rosè they simply pump the fermenting wine off the skins, sometimes in as little as 12 hours, before much color is extracted leaving it the pale pink color the best rosès are known for.

How about the alcohol and acid levels? When red grape varietals are grown and harvested with the intention of making them into rosè they are picked earlier. They are harvested when sugars are lower, meaning the grapes aren’t quite as ripe, and the acids are higher. With lower sugars alcohol stays lower as well since the alcohol can only go as high as the sugars will take it.

There is another “method” for producing rosè. When winemakers are making red wine and they need to concentrate the color they will bleed off some of the juice to further concentrate the color in the remaining wine. This is known as “saignee” the French term for “to bleed”. The “saignee” is then fermented further and acid is added to bring it closer to the characteristics of rosè made from grapes picked with pink wine in mind.

Finally why are some pink wines dry and others not? If fermentation is stopped prior to all of the sugar in the grapes being consumed by the yeast and turned to alcohol this leaves residual sugar in the wine. It makes it sweet. With sweet rosè or any sweet wine for that matter you can accomplish this by simply killing the yeast through the introduction of chemicals. Still not sweet enough? Some manufacturers of sweet wine, especially large scale ones will add pure sugar back into the wine.

For true dry rosè though winemakers let the yeast work their magic until all the sugar is fermented out of the wine. This leads to those crisp clean near perfect summer quaffers we adore.

We are just coming into prime rosè season. The weather, I promise, will be perfect for consuming them, and the new vintages are all being released right now. Stop by the shop to get your hands on the best of the new season.

If there is a topic you would like to read about or questions on wine you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d’Alene Press.

•••

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party a wine and table top décor shop in Coeur d’Alene by Costco. George has also worked as a judge in many wine competitions; his articles are published around the country and is the wine editor for Coeur d’Alene magazine (www.cdamagazine.com). You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles as well as other great wine tips by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.