Blush Wine
From LoveToKnow Wine
Blush Wines—Not Pink but Rosy
Wines do not blush pink merely out of embarrassment or shame. They are not rosy-cheeked brides walking down the aisle with the spotlight shining on them. They are not shamefaced liars with a flush of color to their cheeks caught in some truth-revealing quandary. These blush wines are not Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah's couch. Blush wines in fact are no more than another name for Rose Wines—and put an accent over the "é" and say "Ro-zay" and not the thorny name that called by any other name would smell as sweet. Rosé is French for pink, but pink wine as a marketing name emits a negative aura without panache and a wine so labeled would probably not fare well alongside a Pouilly-Fuisse or Bordeaux.
Blush Wine Origins
The first blush of rosé on note in the U.S. was launched by California's Almaden Vineyards in the early 1940's when the local home-grown winery introduced their Grenache Rosé, a sweetish pink wine. This successful blushing wine helped create an impression that rosé wines equated to sweet wines, perhaps a notion similar to Rieslings or a Gewurtztraminer being only sweet wines.
At some point in time, some Californian wine marketing brigands decided that rosé as a name was a monkey on the pinkish-tinted wine's back and sought a better moniker to use. One of the first to conjoin the word blush with wine was Mill Creek Winery to describe a wine that was neither red nor white. Mill Creek's owners, the Kreck family, went as far as to claim it as a trademark. And although they might own the name, it was another winery which transported the blush wine name to a higher plane and rosés in the U.S. haven't been the same.
It was Sutter Home's accidental introduction of White Zinfandel in the 1970's that got the blush ball rolling. While making Zinfandel, the yeast that normally consumes the sugar in the grape juice died. It left a slightly sweet pinkish wine. Like making lemonade, Sutter Home seized the opportunity, bottled the blush wine, and created a wine market that had not existed before. Sutter Home and than later, Beringer, helped make White Zinfandel and the blush wine concept a household name and synonymous with slightly sweet and pink wines with a body thinner than an anorexic model. There has been a backlash to this marketing of blush wines with the general perception that they are insipid, wine candy, and a concoction of marketing rather of great winemaking. Well, you can diss and sneer at blush wines all you want, but it's a little known fact that Beringer's White Zinfandel and their other blush wines dominate their marketing mix. They may get their awards for their Private Reserve Cabs, but the winery makes its money on blush.
Rosés Have No Need to Blush
Let's set aside White Zinfandel and consider it a separate sub-category. While produced in a similar manner, White Zinfandel doesn't share the spirit of rosé—they tend to be slightly sweeter in nature and occasionally offer up a fizziness edge. On the other hand, rosés range from slighty sweet to dry with fruity aromas and flavors and noticeably more depth. They also have lively acidity which helps make rosé excellent with food. For background on style and production process, LoveToKnow's Rose Wines give you further elaboration. Generally served slightly chilled, rosés are refreshing, vibrant and versatile. They make a great sipping wine to relax during an early summer evening heat, on picnics, and they carry on well into the autumn. Put together autumn and food, and you get Thanksgiving and rosés well-suited to Tom Turkey.
Not for Aging
Because rosés and blush wines do not stay in contact with a grape's skin for any length of time, tannins for building aging structure are hard to come by. For this reason, it is advisable to drink these wines within several months of their release to enjoy them at their best.
Coming Back in Style
Rosé wines have been out roaming in the desert and out of style for a couple of decades since the White Zinfandel fad altered the blush wine's image. However, fads get deflated eventually and rosés are finding handholds and gaining popularity within the wine-drinking community again with the terms blush and rosé almost used interchangeably. There are countless choices to try as well. Blush or rosé wines are a style rather than a varietal which opens up countless concoctions. Some of the best rosés are from France's Bandol in Provence as well as Tavel in the Southern Rhône. These rosés are made with typical Rhône grapes such as Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Syrah. But almost any type of red grape varietal can be used. Spain is another rosé player where they call their blush wines, rosado. The Spanish will usually use Garnacha, Tempranillo, and Monastrell. In the U.S., many winemakers have sidestepped White Zinfandel and are making excellent pink wines made from a multitude of varietals, from Pinot Noir, to Zinfandel, to Syrah, to Grenache, to Cabernet. It doesn't take much looking but you'll be able to find blush wines from other countries as well, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile, to name a few.
Blushing Bubbles
Do not, I repeat, do not refer to bubbly blush wines as Pink Champagne. That resurrects decades-old bad memories of something called Cold Duck that more than White Zinfandel sullied lovely rosé wine's reputation. Many Champagne houses and sparkling wine producers make elegant Rosé Champagnes and sparkling wines that are full-bodied and toasty with tart strawberry flavors. They can be made in one of two ways -- the traditional way is to extract color by macerating the wine with pinot noir skins to achieve the right tint. The other and more contemporary method is to add Pinot Noir wine to each Champagne bottle prior to the second fermentation. But like mixing paint, coloration is not an exact science and there will be wide variations in the blush color. Just think pink and be happy. There's nothing more gorgeous than a flute of pale salmon-pink Champagne with a stream of tiny and tight bubbles percolating to the surface. Note that Rosé Champagnes are more complex to produce and consequently are usually more expensive than their golden siblings.
Drink Rosé, Blush Happy
Regardless if you call them blush wines or rosés, these multi-colored pink wines are just fun to drink and vary in aromas and flavors. Although some can have a sweet edge, most lean to dryness and are easily appreciated.
A Suggested List of Blush Producers
They don't need any more encouragement, but they are the alternative to Sutter Home.
Pax produces excellent Rhône-style rosés that are strawberry-rich and complex.
Check out the deranged Randall Grahm's Le Gris de Cigare rosé or try his ex-label's Big House Pink.
This French winery in Provence is owned by a Brit, Sir Andrew Murray, and the château's rosé is perennially brilliant and delicious.
The great and reliable E. Guigal house and negociant produces a seductive and tough-to-beat Côtes-du-Rhône Rosé and an elegant floral and juicy Tavel.
One of Spain's best wineries in Rioja produce a rosado made primarily from Garnacha, Viura, and Tempranillo.
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