Best Rosé Wine
– Drink Pink.
The Tasting:
The Fifty Best held a “blind” tasting of 13 recent release Rosé wines with eight members of our wine judging panel. The order of service was established beforehand by lottery. Strict tasting rules were applied. Each of the wines were poured into fresh glasses from new sealed bottles and served well chilled. Only ice water and crusty peasant bread were available to cleanse the palate.
The judges wrote down their impressions of each wine on score sheets. The scoring was based on a 5-point system, with 5 as the highest. Double Gold, Gold and Silver medals are awarded according to a set range of final point scores received from the judges. There were no Bronze medals awarded for this tasting. Medals are provided based entirely on merit and only to products judged worthy of such award.
The tasting notes that follow are summaries of the judges’ opinions, with all replicated commentary eliminated. The states and countries are identified for each brand. Clicking on the brands' names will link to their websites.
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Rosé’s Popularity Presses On
There are two main techniques for making rosé wines. The first is the Maceration technique, where red-skinned grapes are essentially produced like white wine. The grapes are crushed and the juice and skins are macerated (that is, kept in contact with each other) for a period long enough to extract the desired amount of color. The juice is then separated from the skins, and fermented like white wine, usually in stainless steel tanks. The second is the Saignée technique, where a portion of the pink juice is run off from the just-crushed red grapes after a short partial fermentation maceration to extract color and aroma (usually 12 to 24 hours). The juice is then separated from the skins, & fermented in tanks.
Rosé wines pair easily with a variety of foods. Structurally, rosé’s bracing acidity, lack of oak aging, and moderate alcohol are all very food-friendly traits. Acidity mirrors the tangy and pungent ingredients of spring and summer, while also highlighting their fresh flavors. Moderate alcoholic strength means that it won’t exacerbate spice or salt, and won’t overpower food. Rosé offers the best-of-both-worlds — it has white wine structure and red wine flavors, so it can be as light or intense as necessary depending on the food it’s being paired with.
Sales of rosé in the U.S. have increased annually since 2014. No longer a fad, rosé wine can now be considered a long-term trend – as consumers are choosing to drink rosé all year round. Fashions come and fashions go, but good wines will endure, regardless of the color.
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