World Of Wine Winter 2019

Fifty
Shades
OFRosé
If you lined up all the
rosé wines available
in New Zealand,
you’d see at least fifty
different colours. From
red to pink, onion skin
to salmon, all tints of rosé
are correct. There is no
guidebook on rosé colour,
although the trend recently
has been towards salmon or
pale apricot versions.
Rosé can be produced
from any red grape variety.
Pinot Noir is the most
popular in New Zealand,
but Merlot, Tempranillo,
Syrah, the Cabernets and
blends are also widely used.
If colour is your thing,
choosing a bottle of
rosé is easy. Price is not
particularly indicative of
quality; however, if taste,
texture and palate pleasure
is a more exciting option,
a little more back label
reading or wine review
check will be needed.
Rosé can be made very
dry to dry, with most New
Zealand styles often justdry.
What was once the
medium to sweet option
is all but gone. Rosé’s invogue
status has ushered in
a selection of more serious
options, growing the range
on offer, both at retail and
on wine lists.
Winemakers looking
to produce a more
serious expression of rosé
pay particular attention
towards aroma, complexity
and structure for
example - using natural
fermentation for a portion
or all of the juice. The use
of older oak adds structure,
even extended skin
contact for more tannin
and grip (the trade-off is
more red pigment, but
remember all rosé colour
is valid). Even capturing
a layer of minerality
makes for more serious
drinking options.
Wineries that
specifically produce red
wine have the option to
change the juice-to-skin
ratio, allowing winemakers
to produce a darker
coloured wine. To achieve
this they need to bleed
away some juice. This
process is called Saignée
- a French term meaning
to ‘bleed’. The juice that is
‘bled’ away after an initial
12 – 24 hours skin contact
is used to make rosé.
Another option is when
the intended outcome
uses 100% of the juice
available to make a rosé.
The particular shade of
rosé a producer ends
up making depends on
skin contact, exposure to
oxygen and the use of oak
or wine barrels.
A ROSÉ BY ANY OTHER COLOUR TASTES
JUST AS SWEET – OR, THESE DAYS, DRY
42 WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2019