Shades of Rosé Wine: which colour is best?

Which Rosé Wine is The Best Colour?

During the warm summer months, people’s wine tastes will often turn towards a refreshing fruity rosé, and this is especially true in the beautiful garden at Stanlake Park. Most people in the UK choose according to the shades of rosé wine and will opt for a Provence style light coloured rosé with a (mis)understanding that it’ll be less sweet and better quality but is that really true?

Firstly, it’s important to look at how rosé wine is made and what grapes are used in the process as these points are key. If you’re only drinking light Provence style rosé, then you’re probably missing out on other great rosé wines.

How Is Rosé Wine Made?

Rosé wine is usually made from black grapes where the juice has been left in contact with the skins for a few hours. The longer they’re left, the darker the rosé will be. Our Pinot Noir rosé is left with the skins for only a couple of hours to achieve a delicate pink colour whilst our Italian Collection Primitivo is left for over 6 hours for a darker shade.

Just like with red wine production, the grape skins are usually left on during fermentation to ensure colours, flavours and tannins impart into the wine. However, unlike red wine production, they will undergo fermentation at a much lower temperature (more like white wine production). The lower fermentation temperature will help preserve the delicate aromas and flavours of the rosé. Once pressed, rosé wines are pretty much bottled straight away, to trap their soft fruit flavours and then for sale in the shop shortly afterwards.

Popular Styles of Rosé Wine

Provence Rosé

Fresh, crisp and dry. Provence rosé is by far one of the coolest, and chicest rosés. Made using Grenache, Cinsault, Clairette and many other local grapes, these styles of rosés tend to be clean, fruity and very pale. This style is so popular nowadays that pink wines that were traditionally made in different shades of rosé are now being crafted to look pale and light as well.

Tavel Rosé

A very traditional French rosé wine from the Southern Rhône, so close to Provence yet so incredibly different in style. Made with nine different grapes using only the saignée method (bleeding), Tavel wine stands out for its concentration, structure and depth of colour. A very foodie rosé, and one not to miss.

Grenache Rosé

One of the most widely planted red grape varietals in the world, Grenache grapes often produce full-bodied wines bursting with juicy red cherry flavours. Grenache is often a lively and dynamic rosé, also known as Garnacha in Spain – try the rosés from Navarra, just above Rioja in the north of Spain.

Sangiovese Rosé

Originating from Central Italy, but now grown all over the world, Sangiovese produces a bold, flavourful rosé that has notes of red fruit, complimented by subtle spices.

Stanlake Park award-winning Pinot Noir Rosé

Syrah Rosé

Not your typical rosé. Syrah is deep in colour and features notes of pepper, olive and blackberry. It often produces bold and rich wines. It also doesn’t need to be served as chilled as standard rosé wines.

Zinfandel Rosé

Better known as White Zinfandel and originally form the California, this rosé wine is infamous in wine popular culture as a very pink, very sweet and very cheap wine. But it’s currently undergoing a resurgence again and continues to be the most popular variety of rosé with its sweet flavours of lemon, melon and strawberry.

But be careful – Zinfandel is the American name for Primitivo, one of the most popular Italian grapes, originally from Puglia, where delicious rosé wines have been made for many years. Primitivo grape is darker in colour than Pinot Noir, so it crafts rosé wines that are deep pink, refreshing and fruity, but not sweet at all. You only need to try our own Primitivo Rosé to understand how totally different is the Italian style compared to the Californian Zin.

Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé

You’d be forgiven if you’d look at a Cabernet Sauvignon rosé and think it was red wine. Deep ruby-red in colour, cabernet rosé tastes a lot more like red wine, in comparison to other rosé varieties. Blackcurrant, pepper and cherry all shine through in this.

Pinot Noir Rosé

Pinot noir produces great rosés which is why Nico uses this variety for our Pinot Noir Rosé. It has a decent dry finish and is also used to make our Rosé Superior sparkling wine. Pinot Noir Rosé can sometimes be a shade darker than Provence rosé, but shares a lot of the same fruit notes, such as strawberries, pink grapefruit and melon. It is also similarly bright and refreshing; however, Pinot Noir Rosé can be bit more savoury than rosé from Provence.

As stated in the first paragraph, don’t miss out on other styles of rosé with a bias towards lighter colours, there may be some gems you just don’t know about. Tavel, for instance, is one of the most expensive rosé wines in the world. Or again, compare our Pinot Noir with the darker Primitivo Rosé from the Stanlake Italian Collection and see what you think. They both recently won international awards, and you’ll find the same aromas of fresh raspberries and strawberries, with a smooth finish and aftertaste of red cherries…delicious, don’t you think?

Get those tastebuds to work and grab our Rosé Winners Case, which includes 3 bottles each of our Pinot Noir Rosé and Primitivo Rosé, with a 10% discount!

Go to the Rosé Winners Case »