Questions Uncorked

Sep 2, 2008

Hi Sam, thanks so much for your question! Yes, as you mention in your question, white wines are typically made from the juice of white grapes and the color of red wines does come from the skins of the red grapes. But did you also know that you can make a white wine from red grapes? When it comes to the color of a wine, it is all about skin contact. The amount of contact between the grape skins and the juice of grapes is the major determining factor for the color of a wine. Every grape has a different color and extraction potential.

When it comes to making rosé wines, there are a few different techniques that are used to make the color of the wine pink as opposed to red or white.

The first is a technique called saignée – which means that the juice is left in contact with the skins of the grapes for only a short amount of time, but long enough to extract some color from the skins. After a short period (12 hours or so is a common length of time), the juice is drained off the skins and then fermented. The result is a pink or rosy colored wine. This skin contact, although short, is also one reason why some rosé wines can have some drying tannins – one way to get tannins in wine is through skin contact. The second technique that can be used is to blend red and white wines together to create a pink wine. This blended technique is not as common as the saignée practice for making rosé wines, but it is still in use in some areas and in fact, it is one way they make rosé Champagne.

So if you were to drink a red wine made from Grenache and Syrah and a rosé wine made from the same two grapes, you would see for yourself the difference that maceration time (the time period where the juice and skins of the grapes are left in contact with each other) can make. A short maceration time will create a light, rosy colored wine while an extended maceration will mean that there is a lot of color extracted from the grape skins.