Discovering rosés...

Brix, in my opinion is one of Boston's best wine stores. From decoration to wine selection to wine tastings... I actually think it is officially in the Best of Boston, Citysearch guide. So for those of you Bostonians, who have not been there and would like to learn about wine/buy good wine should definitely pay a visit.

The cover of Wine Spectator this month was rosés, much to my surprise. I did not think to pay much attention to roses until I tried one at the Brix wine tasting and was very pleasantly surprised.

Rosés are a forgotten wine. When I think rosé, I think of white zin or other American blush wines. Sweet and almost desert wine tasting... Which has been the trend until now. Apparently, rosés are shifting towards a drier style, which makes them the perfect summer drink.

And unless you are an expert, I think one simple yet dumb to ask question (in my head) has always been, what is rosé? Is it a blend of white and red? Here's the answer according to wikipedia

There are three major ways to produce rosé.
1. Skin contact
Red-skinned grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for a short period. The grapes are then pressed, and the skins are discarded rather than left in contact throughout fermentation as with red wine making. Because the skins contain much of the strongly flavored tannin and other compounds, this leaves the wine tasting more similar to a white wine. The longer that the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the final wine.
2. Saignée
The second way called saignée, or bleeding, is used when the winemaker desires to impart more tannin and color to a red wine, and removes some pink juice from the must at an early stage, in a process known as bleeding the vats. The removed juice is then fermented separately, producing the rosé as a by-product of the red wine.
3. Blending
The third method, the simple adding of red wine to a white to impart color, is discouraged in most wine growing regions now except for pink Champagne (wine region).

When you feel like a white burgundy, try a rosé instead. I think you will be pleasantly suprised.