American Rosé? | In Defense of Drinking our Pink
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A recent article published by The Telegraph caught my attention when they bashed California rosé, swiftly and unapologetically admonishing the entire category in one fell swoop. The article advises readers to “steer clear of over-confected Californians”, while recommending examples from nearly every other prominent wine-producing region throughout the world, including France, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, and Italy to name a handful.
Some might argue that California deserves this reputation, and I’ll concede that there is a valid point to be made there. When winemakers figured out that they could bottle, ferment and sell the juice that they were bleeding from their fermentation tanks (to concentrate their red wines) and sell it as rosé (as opposed to discarding it), this process of rosé production (called the saignée method) quickly became popular because it provided a quick infusion of capital for cash-strapped wineries.
