On a recent trip to California, I was confronted at several very high-end wineries by what I considered at the time to be a fluke, a coincidence?but by no means the fastest growing trend in wine today. Virtually everywhere I went there it was, it’s brightly colored hues peering at me from every glass, staring me down, daring me to denounce my viticultural prejudices and repent my enological sins.

Just one sip, that’s all it takes I was told. I felt like the one guy at Studio 54 in 1982 that didn’t like coffee.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do?so indeed I did. With no uncertain amount of trepidation I imbibed this stuff, this glass of purgatorial wine, wanting both but having neither. That’s right, I was drinking pink wine, the pinnacle of taboo among American drinkers of big, dry reds. What I tasted was difficult to accept?it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Not only was not all sweet, but it wasn’t all pink either, ranging from a tawny salmon-brick to deep and vibrant crimson. I had to know more, and I had to be honest with myself. Had I really allowed pop culture and the status-quo to pull a blanket over my eyes? What is Rose?

When I say rose, I am sure that most of you conjure up images of fanny-pack toting touristas sipping a sweet glass of pink which they may or may not have gone one step further to put ice cubes in. But to have any sort of dialogue on the topic, one must first understand the terminology to understand the issues at hand.

First: it is of incredible importance to realize that rose and blush are not one and the same. Blush is merely an accident, a financial blessing bestowed upon the bulk wine markets.

By the 1970s Sutter Home had made an auxiliary practice of the French production method known as “saignee” (more on this later) whereby they would drain off some of the juice of Zinfandel (were talking about real zinfandel here people) before fermentation so as to increase the concentration, weight and body of the juice left with the skins. With the drained juice they would produce a dry rose. In 1975, the mistake was made of inadvertently allowing the yeasts to die off before the residual sugars of the juice had been converted into alcohol. When the Master Vintner (the one ultimately responsible for the mishap) tasted the sweet pink several weeks later, he decided to commercially bottle it. It became an instant hit and thus was born “Blush.”

Rose however has a much more dignified history and following.

Second: Rose is a widely accepted and consumed wine product in Europe. The stigma of White Zinfandel never afflicted Europe in a big way so there has never been any reason for the cultures not to follow tradition and consider the purgatorial wines less than a fantastic summer beverage. On any given summer afternoon you can find the vineyard workers and vintners themselves under the shade of a tree sipping some cooled rose and never will you find anyone condescending upon the practice or pretentiously clutching their Bordeaux or otherwise big dry red.

To the Europeans, rose is what it has always been?a good drink free from the need for deep contemplation, but most of all certainly nothing to be frowned upon. Why?

Rose is seen as really the best of both worlds in many ways. Not only does it have an inherent food friendliness (seriously, try one with pizza, barbecue, fruits, burgers, salads or anything spicy) but also the ability to hint at a certain amount of depth and tannins that frame the fruit rather than the sweet. I feel it important here to note that the “dryness/sweetness” of a wine legally is measured by the percentage of fructose in a wine, the sweetest natural thing on earth. An acceptable level for dry is typically considered less than .5% and by practice, more like .25 – .35%. Sweet is recognized closer to the 2% area which is really very high save the sweetest deserts. The amount of fructose in a wine is a separate issue of residual sugar or even the harvested “brix” measurements?so try not to get these technical specifications confused.

Rose is produced primarily using two methods; the aforementioned “Saignee,” and finished blending.

Saignee is the process where grapes are crushed and let to soak for hours or even days, allowing the juice to extract some of the tannins, pigments and phenols, but not to the extent of a red wine. The juice is then drained and fermented in a separate tank sans skins. The slight variation between the International version of this method and the true French saignee method is that it was originally invented as a way to make use of the drained juice consequential of the more concentrated red wines they were after. When the demand for rose increased, a new variation was developed in which grapes were picked specifically for the roses rather than as a by-product of the wineries reds.

The amount of time the juice is macerated, or let to soak in the skins, determines in all red wines the color, weight, tannins and phenols extracted, so timing is of absolute importance. This factor dictates the balance of red/white wine characteristics in the finished wine. How long this is done and at what temperatures, etc. is based on varietal, style, region and intention. Unlike blush, little with rose is accidental.

The second method known as ?Finished Blending’ is a process used mostly by sparkling producers though its employment is centered mostly in Champagne. Producers will make two separate reds and whites and blend them thus creating pink. One important dynamic this process adds is the option to blend not only from village/vineyard, but from vintage as well. This type of freedom is rare in the French wine world, and some champagne houses will blend up to 5 vintages and 15 villages using this method.

An interest in rose is rapidly growing in America. Sales increased 40% in a single year for imported roses, and France’s Provence region (the home of rose) saw a 50% exportation increase to America between 2005 and 2006. Over-all sales of rose have increased 25% in the last two years, and while this remains a niche category – it is one to watch.

Some favorite pinks:

Fleur – Carneros Vin Pinot Noir Rose 2005 – $14.99 at Longhorn Liquor

Red Guitar – Garnacha Rose 2005 – $9.99 at Longhorn Liquor

Chateau Ste. Michelle – Nellie’s Garden Dry Rose 2005 – $8.99 at Longhorn Liquor

Marques de Cacres – Rijoa Rose 2005

Simi – Roseto Alexander Valley 2006

Toad Hollow – Dry Pinot Noir Rose 2004 – $8.99 at Longhorn Liquor