Fruity, light, tangy or floral, rosé wine is a wine with multiple flavours that is increasingly appreciated in France, particularly during the summer season.

Easy to enjoy and particularly refreshing, it is therefore no surprise to see it so often served on a terrace, by the beach, beside a pool or during a barbecue with friends.

Discover a selection of rosé wines from the south of France produced by Gérard Bertrand

How should rosé be served?

You may sometimes — or even often — enjoy a glass of rosé, that wonderfully refreshing wine that regularly accompanies our outdoor terrace moments in the sunshine!

But do you know how rosé wine is made?

First of all, it is worth knowing that rosé wine is produced like a classic wine, and that contrary to popular belief, rosé wine is not the result of a blend of red wine and white wine. We can even go further and say that rosé wine is at the very origin of winemaking. Indeed, produced since antiquity, rosé wine is surely the oldest type of wine.

Discover the rosé wine collections from the Gérard Bertrand estates and châteaux

But then, how is rosé wine made?

The making of rosé wine

The rosé wine production process is very similar to that of red wine; only the maceration time, which is shorter for rosé, makes it possible to obtain a pale pink/salmon colour. Rosé wine is thus produced from black grapes with white flesh, such as Pinot Noir, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cinsault or Malbec.

This is notably the case with the Or & Azur rosé wine collection, an AOP Languedoc cuvée designed by Gérard Bertrand, certified AB (organic wine) and Bee Friendly (preservation of pollinating insects), produced from Grenache and Cinsault grape varieties. If you did not know, very few black grapes have coloured flesh. These belong to the category of so-called "teinturier" grape varieties.

The pale pink colour of rosé wine is thus obtained from the grape skins, not from the flesh. It is during pressing and maceration, when the grape juice is in contact with the skins, that it changes colour. Therefore, the longer the maceration, the more intense the colour will be and the closer it will come to red.

Once the colouring and maceration phase is complete, the fermentation phase begins. Fermentation allows the sugars to be converted into alcohol through the action of yeasts present naturally or added by the winemaker. Finally, before bottling, the wine goes through the ageing phase, in oak barrels for premium rosés or in stainless steel vats.

Ageing is a very important phase in the rosé wine production process. Indeed, it is during ageing that the aromas and structure of the wine are developed. After draining the vat, the final stage of bottling begins, which, as its name suggests, is the putting of the wine into bottles, which will be sealed with a cork or a screw cap.

There you have it — you now know how rosé wine is produced!

All that remains is to find out which are the best rosé wines to make the right choice!

To go further on the different types of wine: 

• Demeter biodynamic wine
• Organic rosé wine
• Organic Languedoc wine
• Rosé wine, the best rosé wine and the Languedoc rosé wine
• Orange wine

Introduction to the Gérard Bertrand group:

• The wine properties of Gérard Bertrand
• La biodynamics, a unique and ecological know-how
• The website for buying quality wine