D19: Rose Winemaking

Question 1

What are the three ways of making rose wine?

Answer 1

• direct pressing
• short maceration
• blending

Question 2

Direct Pressing

Answer 2

• makes lightest coloured rose wines
  1) black grapes are either whole bunch pressed or destemmed (maybe crushed) and immediately pressed to reduce any maceration

2) Pneumatic presses used
- flushed with inert gases to avoid oxidation of aromas or flavours

3) juice then fermented like white wine

• produces roses lightest in colour but does depend on:
  
  • pressure of press
  • duration of pressing time
  • how much press juice is used
• can be called vin gris
• include some of the palest Provence wines
• can co-press and co-ferment white and black grapes which gives extra acidity and achieves a paler colour
• does depend on local legislation

Question 3

Short Maceration

Answer 3

• produces roses which are deeper in colour and more pronounced in flavour
• some traditional spanish roses and Tavel rose produced this way

1) short period of pre-ferm maceration before pressing
- must may be protect with inert gas to avoid oxidation and microbial spoilage
- longer the maceration the more CFT will be extracted
- duration may be from couple of hours to few days

2) at end of maceration, juice is drained and grape skins gentle pressed
3) then fermented like white wine

Question 4

What is Saignee?

Answer 4

• style of ‘short maceration’
• can be by-product of must concentration in red wine
• quite a cost-effective form of rose production
• risk is that grapes have been grown as if they are going to make red wine so may not be suitable for this type of rose wine

Question 5

Blending method

Answer 5

• real variety of styles
• blending small proportion of red and white wine together
• retains aromas and flavours of white grape
• e.g. Sauv B Rose
• cant do this style in many GIs
• champagne known exception
• thought to lower quality of rose production in many regions
• simple and cheap method of production
• mainly for inexpensive wines

Question 6

What is the impact of the colour of rose?

Answer 6

• consumers often choose their wines based on colour light = dry;
  darker = off-dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet
  — not a true assumption!

Question 7

Colour of Rose

Answer 7

• colour decreases during fermentation process
• when making wine through direct pressing or short maceration, need some predictive skill and experience to achieve desired colour in final wine
• blending makes it much easier to control final colour

Question 8

When thinking about viticulture in terms of rose winemaking, what are you looking to achieve?

Answer 8

• want medium-high levels of acidity
• low to medium levels of alcohol
• fresh fruit flavours

Question 9

What are your harvesting considerations when thinking about making rose?

Answer 9

HARVEST TIME

• tend to be earlier for Rose grapes
• helps retain acidity and get delicate, fresh red fruit characteristics
• if going for short maceration, want tannins that are ripe to avoid any extraction of green flavours
• can be done by machine or hand

HAND HARVESTING
- allows whole bunch pressing so juice is low in colour

MACHINE HARVESTING

• good in warm climates where harvesting at night means grapes can remain cool until they arrive at winery
• good for large volumes which need to be picked at certain level of ripeness
• can also be cheaper

Question 10

If you want to produce good/outstanding quality rose, what are your viticulture considerations?

Answer 10

• grown in cool or moderate regions or cool to moderate sites within warmer regions
• cooling can come from latitude, altitude, aspect or proximity to water
• yields tend to be higher for rose than red wine which slows down ripening and helps produce grapes with less concentration

Question 11

What are your fermentation considerations for rose wine?

Answer 11

TEMPERATURE

• cooler temps (12-16 degrees)
• promotes production and retention of aroma compounds

VESSEL
Stainless Steel:
- use stainless steel as neutral and can control temps
Oak (old or new)
- more expensive option than SS
- gives more texture
- wine needs enough fruit concentration so as to not overwhelm influence of oak

YEAST
- tend to use cultured yeast

RESIDUAL SUGAR
- either stop fermentation before reaches dryness
or
- blend in sweet component to dry rose wine

Question 12

MLC in Rose

Answer 12

• avoided
• don’t want buttery flavours as would mask fresh fruit aromas
• want to retain acidity to help with fresh fruit aromas

Question 13

Maturation

Answer 13

• may mature for short period on lees and/or in oak vessels if want to give texture and body to wine

New Oak

• adds oak flavours
• good for winemakers who are looking for different style of rose (food pairing rose)

Question 14

Blending

Answer 14

• blending red and white wine method of gaining colour to produce rose wine
• many roses (inc DP and SM) will be blended just before finishing and packaging
• done to tweak flavour or colour, or to give consistency across a batch

Question 15

Appearance

Answer 15

• most will be fined and filtered to increase clarity

Sterile Filtration
- important for wines with residual sugar so as to avoid presence of unwanted microbes that could feed off sugar in the bottle