Rose: What’s in the Glass?

As the weather begins to warm up, many of us put down our bottles of red, and reach for a crisp refreshing rose. Few wines seem to capture the fun happiness of summer the way rose does. As many of you will be drinking rose in the coming months, I figured some of you might wonder how the delicious pink juice in your glass is made.
There are three main ways that all rose is made. The first of which is called the saignee method. In this method, which is very common, the rose is a byproduct of red wine making. In order to create a more concentrated and full bodied red, winemakers will bleed of a portion of the juice off. This juice, which is pink in color, is fermented on its own, to make the rose wine.
The next way to to allow the grape juice to remain in contact with the skins for a short period of time to extract color and a bit of body. Then the skins are removed, and the pink juice that remains is fermented into rose.
The third method that is rarely used, is the blending of red and white wines that have been vinified separately. This method is widely unpracticed, and in the opinions of many, produces an inferior wine.
So there you have it, these are the principal ways in which rose are made. So the next time you are sitting on your porch sipping some rose, you will have a little bit better of an understanding as to what exactly is in your glass.