Real men drink pink wine: a closer look at RosÃ©, a great summer wine

The dry Rose of Syrah from Buoncristiani (Napa Valley) is a saignee from their muscular Syrah.

The Napa Valley dry Rose of Syrah from Buoncristiani

I’m usually very patient with novice wine drinkers when they simply don’t get something. I’m fully aware that it takes time, that there is an endless sea of information to take in.

I’m also aware that sometimes with wine a person needs to try something several times before they begin to get it. But around this time every year I’m faced with a misunderstanding that is massive and far reaching among the American wine drinking public. For the last few years I’ve been telling myself, “it will get better,” “they’ll come around,” and “eventually they’ll start to get it.”

Well I’m done kidding myself. It’s not getting better. In fact, as the number of people who drink wine continues to grow, this problem is only growing worse - a misunderstanding only being spread and rooted deeper into the minds of common wine drinkers. I’m talking about RosÃ©, people. And if you think you don’t like it, you’d better pay attention because you have some serious learning to do!

Let start with some basics. Here is what RosÃ© is NOT:

1. It’s NOT “BLUSH” (a marketing term crafted in the 70s to promote jug wine) and it’s not pronounced like the flower. It’s RosÃ© (Ro-zay).

2. It is NOT SWEET. At least it does not have to be. In fact most RosÃ© around the world is produced in a dry or slightly off-dry style. There are entire wine regions (i.e. Provence and Tavel in France) that are celebrated entirely for their production of amazing pink wines. There are sweet red wines. There are sweet white wines. The color of a wine is in no way related to the amount of residual sugar in it.

3. It is NOT CHEAP. At least it does not have to be. There are cheap wines in virtually every category of wine available, be they red, white, pink, orange, sweet, dry, sparkling or still. Again, the color of a wine is in no way related to the price or quality of a wine.

Being inexpensive and very easy to drink due to its sweetness and fruitiness, many Americans are first introduced to wine via the infamous White Zinfandel. Amazingly, it represents about 10 percent of all wine consumed by Americans each year. Unfortunately, White Zinfandel’s resounding sales success has unfairly created two associations with pink wines - cheap and sweet. But the qualities “cheap” and “sweet” have nothing to do with the color pink. There are plenty of cheap and/or sweet red and white wines all around us but we don’t blanket those wines in the same way we do pink wines.

Now, here is what you are missing:

1. Most RosÃ© is made from red grapes (Syrah, Grenache, Pinot Noir and even Cabernet are just a few). The juice from all of these red grapes is actually clear until the color is extracted from the skins. They’re made almost the same way as their darker-colored brothers and sisters that you are more familiar with. The only difference is that the juice spends less time in contact with the skins, hence drawing out less color from them. In case you’re wondering, this again has absolutely nothing to do with sweetness. One very important thing to note is that some of the most amazing dry RosÃ©s are the result of saignÃ©e, the process of draining off some of the juice of a red fermentation to increase the ratio of solids to liquid for more intensity.

So some of those big rich red monsters that you may hold so dear to your heart actually have a RosÃ© saignÃ©e as a piece of their winemaking puzzle. And since the American public still doesn’t understand what amazing wines these are, the winemakers usually keep these small productions around the winery for themselves to drink. And believe me - they love them!

2. It is the best of both worlds. RosÃ© has some tannin structure like a red, yet is more crisp and refreshing like a white. This makes RosÃ© particularly perfect for warm weather.

So here is the bottom line. If you thing drinking a pink wine makes you look like a novice, the opposite is true. When I see people drinking RosÃ©, I assume they must know more about wine than the average bear.

Now, I’m publicly letting you all know that I’m not going to be mister nice guy about this anymore. If you are one those people that thinks RosÃ© is somehow less of a wine, you shall now be on my list of people that don’t know Bordeaux from Welches.

If you need to rush out and search for some RosÃ© for a little redemption, find the latest release of Buoncristiani Syrah RosÃ©. It’s the saignÃ©e of a VERY manly red and this may help you get the first glass down while keeping your “I only drink huge reds” ego in check.

I finish this blog by declaring to all Ann Arbor wine drinkers, “RosÃ© is in!” In fact, all who drink RosÃ© must now be perceived as very fashionable and wine savvy. And if anyone questions what you are drinking, you not only have the right to, but you are obligated to, raise your brow in pure wine snobbery fashion and explain to them how ridiculous they are for having so misjudged RosÃ© all this time.

Eric Arsenault is the Sommelier for The Chop House and the Director of Wine and Spirits for Mainstreet Ventures. He blogs about wine for AnnArbor.com