Rose Wine History

The history of Rosé predates our modern understanding of “red” and “white” wines.  Before grapes were separated by varietal, even before they were separated by color, the red and white grapes were crushed together.  This produced a darker, more tannic rose wine.  It wasn’t until the 6th Century, when grape vines from Greece, were planted in southern France, that the vines of our modern rosé wines started to grow.  Again, these were field blends, both red and white grapes, fermented together but producing a light, pink wine.  Over time, particularly in the 19th Century with the increase of tourism, it became fashionable to enjoy a glass of Rosé after a long day on the beach in the Cote d’Azur.  This helped create a sense of glamour and leisure often associated with drinking a glass of Rosé. 

Rosé became popular as an easy drinking summer wine.  Simple and straight forwarded but with an aura around it of ocean waves crashing on a beach.  Eventually this spread to the United States with the creation of brands like Mateus which initially enjoyed a nice reception as a sweet, easy drinking wine.  This wine was imported from Portugal and although had some swings in popularity, the taste for sweet rosé wine started to grow in the United States.  

Rosé wines weren’t really produced in the United States with any popularity until the 1970’s.  Bob Trinchero of Sutter Home Winery, while attempting to concentrate his red Amador County Zinfandel, incidentally brought into fashion “white zinfandel.”  It was actually discovered 100 years before in Lodi, California but never gained much popularity.  The story goes, as most in the wine industry tend to, that it was a stuck fermentation of white zinfandel by Stutter Home Winery which created a slightly sweet, blush pink, white Zinfandel Rosé.  Once it was released it became an instant hit.  (Essentially the yeast, eat sugar and create alcohol and Co2.  As the sugar levels drop the alcohol level rises and the Co2 burns off.  A stuck fermentation is when the yeast, for some reason, like temperature change, stop eating the sugar).  This wine also could have filled a void in the United States market created during the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, which eventually led to the democratic country we know today, but caused a signification drop in exports during that time.  

The popularity and production of Rosé wine grew through the 80’s and into the 90’s.  It did not however achieve any status as a fine wine.  It was usually an afterthought product for a winery and the quality of Rosé wines, especially those produced in the United States was minimal.  Eventually, with the help of some better-quality Rosé from southern France the tide began to turn and people realized they could have quality and Rosé in the same glass.  Soon it was all over the Hampton’s and numerous celebrities were endorsing or even investing in Rosé houses across the world.  Today the United States is one of the top consumers of Rosé, and the quality of production has improved.  

At BDV our idea was to keep this momentum going.  While we will never say you shouldn’t open a bottle of one of our Rosé wines on a beautiful beach or lying next to a luxury swimming pool (People do)!! It is a wine meant to be enjoyed with a well-prepared meal.  Grilled Salmon or a bagel and lox.  We spend a lot of time in our production ensuring a balance of skin, seed, and stem contact. It creates a slightly darker color with a smooth finish and fruit forward balance.  The slight structure in the wine is a nod to the original style of Rosé.  

We hope you enjoy our Albertus Magnus Rosé, now on sale for just $24 at bottle.  This is $15 off from our regular price of $39.  For orders of 6 bottles or more use the code BDVROSE for Free Shipping.  The code for this purchase is valid through May 31.