‘Tis the season for Rose…

1 Mill Road Grenache Rose 2024 - Naramata

We hear you, the chant ‘ROSE ALL DAY’ is appealing, espeically if it means lounging around in the sunshine with a cold glass in hand. However, what is it about Rose that is so captivating aside from it’s delicate pink hue? Read along and learn a little about our favourite summertime sipper… rosé!

The most common misconception is that rosé is a type of grape.
Rosé wine is a type of wine - just as red or white - with a color of pink hues, varying from pale salmon to vibrant ruby.
Unlike red wines, where the juice soaks with the skins for prolonged periods, rosé acquires its color through a shorter maceration process, where grape skins are in contact with the juice for a limited time. This minimal contact extracts just enough color and tannins (those mouth-drying elements), resulting in a lighter color profile compared to red wines, while still maintaining some of the characteristics found in reds.

In other words, rosé incorporates just enough color from the skin grapes to tint the wine, but not enough to qualify as red.
It is very likely that most early wines were rosé (although not labeled as such). Most of the winemaking techniques used to produce darker red wines were not in use in ancient times. It was common to press the grapes soon after harvest with little maceration time, resulting in a lightly pigmented wine.

While winemaking has come a very long way since the early days of rosé, the beauty in the glass remains the same. At The Vault Liquor Merchants we have a multitude of varieties and styles worth exploring this summer - just ask our friendly staff to tell you a little more about their favourites!

See you in store…