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Rosé Wine Guide: The Best Rosé in any Shade

If you’re here from my Instagram post, welcome. I recently went on a bit of a rant about how, a few years back, a major publication claimed that lighter colored rosés were better than deeper ones, and the wine world rightfully went up in arms.


The truth is, just because a rosé is darker doesn’t mean it’s sweet. Unfortunately, wines like Sutter Home White Zinfandel and boxed Franzia gave richly colored rosé a bad reputation. It’s kind of like what the movie Sideways did to Merlot.


Deeply colored rosé wine on a dinner table with white tablecloth
Glasses of rosé elegantly set on a table, surrounded by soft candlelight and festive decor, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

The color of a rosé comes down to three main things: how long the juice stays on the grape skins, the grape variety itself, and whether or not the wine saw oak.


Grape skins contain anthocyanins, which give the wine color. Most rosé juice starts out clear, and it’s the contact with the skins that brings the pink. Provence rosé might spend just one to three hours on the skins, while deeper styles like Tavel use the saignée method, also called "bleeding method." That means the juice sits longer on the skins before being drawn off. What’s left is often used to make a bold red wine, but in the case of Tavel, the wine must always be rosé.


Longer skin contact also adds aroma, flavor, and even a bit of tannin, that subtle drying texture you get from red wine. So yes, deeper colored rosés tend to have more structure and are often more food friendly.

Some grape varieties naturally produce more pigment, and aging in oak, like many rosados from Spain, can also make a rosé darker in color.


But again, none of this has anything to do with sweetness.


Now that we’ve cleared that up, here is a rosé wine guide featuring any shade that you can find right now on wine.com.


Lighter in color:












Deeper in color:











There you have it. From the south of France to Spain, Lebanon and beyond, there’s a rosé out there for every mood and every palate. Whether you’re into something light and crisp or bold and full of flavor, there’s a bottle in this mix with your name on it.


Cheers to warmer days, chilled glasses, and discovering something new. If you end up trying any of these, tag me...I want to see what you’re sipping.


Different hues of rosé wine on a table with white flowers
A beautiful assortment of rosé wines in various shades, complemented by delicate blossoms, creates a perfect spring setting.




 
 
 

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