It’s a joke made by many wine drinkers at some point or another: A drop of red is accidentally poured into a glass of white, or the switch from Shiraz to Sauvignon Blanc made too hastily and without a rinse, and someone lightheartedly dubs the resulting glass of pink wine “rosé.”
Yet it may no longer be a joke, at least if the European Commission gets its way.
A new initiative proposed by the organization will allow the blending of red and white wines to produce a wine able to be called rosé. At present, EC regulations allow the rosé designation to be applied only to wines crafted by the maceration of red grapes and the removal of the resulting juice before it becomes heavily colored, or the early “bleeding” of juice from a crush of red wine grapes. In either case, the result is most often a dry, pink wine, the market for which now constitutes a full ten percent of all worldwide wine sales, according to the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Provence, or the Provence Wines Council, representing the world’s leading rosé region.
The French government has already spoken against the proposed practice and indicated it will outlaw the blending of wine to make rosé regardless of what the EC decides. The initiative is expected to be voted on June 19 and, if passed, could come into effect as early as August 1, 2009.
Not surprisingly, the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Provence, or CIVP, is adamantly opposed to the proposed changes.
“It has taken many years of patience, professionalism and exacting attention to quality control to persuade consumers that rosé is a distinctive, refreshing selection for wine lovers throughout the world,” stated François Millo, director of CIVP–Wines of Provence. “This proposal will destroy the true wine’s hard-earned image and undermine a time-honored tradition of production excellence.”
Some wine experts agree. Doug Frost, the only holder of both the Master Sommelier and Master of Wine designations in the United States, notes that “rosés made by blending are typically less interesting than those made by the bleeding of the juice, and rosés made by the bleeding of the juice are usually less interesting than those made by maceration. It’s cheaper to blend than to macerate, and the EC will create conditions that drive quality and prices downward to no wine drinker’s great advantage.”
Given that expert’s take, one might well wonder why this proposal has even arisen. The answer, as is so often the case, is economical, since the EC says that the change in regulation will “open additional export markets for Italian and Spanish wine producers who may have an oversupply of red and white wines.”
But one wine authority says that the controversy a bit overblown, as only the strictest winemaking regions will have strong objections to the proposed practice.
Remarking on the important role tradition plays in wine-making in France, Joe Czerwinski, tasting director at Wine Enthusiast Magazine, notes that the French opposition “makes perfect sense from the perspective of a country where the appellations controlées dictate what grapes are grown, how the vines are pruned, maximum permitted yields, vinification methods and degrees of alcohol. But from the free-for-all mentality of the New World, all of the controversy is much ado about nothing.”