4 Facts about Rosé wine

Wine education, an increase in the quality of rosé wine available, the popularity with the under-25s and the association with the sunshine lifestyle helped by social media (#rosé) are believed to be some of the reasons for the rise of the pink drink.

Rosé wine is not from a specific grape or region, it is just another genre of wine, in the same way as red or white wine. France is the world’s biggest consumer of rosé wine but also its biggest producer across the south of France in Provence, the Rhône valley and the Loire valley.

How best to drink rosé

Rosé wine is best served chilled in a medium-sized glass so that the fresh and fruity characteristics gather towards the top.

How is Rosé wine made

There are three main ways to produce rosé wine with some methods being more popular than others:

Skin Contact – This is one of the most common methods for producing rosé, whereby black skinned grapes are crushed and the juice is left in contact with the skins through the first few days of fermentation, usually 2-3 days.

Saignee Method – This method requires the grapes to be destalked and lightly crushed then placed in Vats for 1-2 days. The juice is then run off and fermented without skin contact.

Blending – this method is forbidden in the EU outside of the Champagne region of France. This is simply the mixing of red and white wine to make a rosé.

Most rosé wines are blends of multiple grapes. Information above sourced from Virgin Wines and full description of each method can be found by clicking here.

Grape types used for rosé wine

For a full list of the grapes and description of each – check out this link provided by Wine Folly.

Top rosé wine producing countries

The biggest producers by volume as per the graph above are France, Spain (“rosado”), Italy (“rosato”), and the United States followed by South Africa and Germany. It is also produced in other regions around the world such as Chile, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and other countries worldwide.