How Rosé is Made
It takes as much talent to make a good Rosé as a good red or white wine. Some very affordable Rosés are a mixture of white and red wines and others are made by crushing red grapes and using just the run-off juice to make a Rosé, increasing the concentration of RED wine made from the remaining grapes, but Mcbride Sillig presses solely Cabernet Franc grown in Marlborough, to produce a full bodied wine with captured tannin and exceptional aroma. Our Franc Rosé is made with the ENTIRE de-stemmed crushed grapes, that are left to macerate for a few hours to pick up a blush of skin colour, THEN PRESSED. It is the degree of contact between the red skin and clear juice from the white flesh that determines the wine’s final colour.
The juice or “moût” is left to ferment, then is clarified and bottled to retain its fruit, flavour and freshness.
Our family’s skills are dedicated to growing and making a fabulous Franc Rosé in Marlborough for a connoisseur market.
Vintage 2009
Harvested on April 15th at 24.2 brix, the fruit was crushed, de-stemmed and cold-soaked for colour and flavour extraction. It was then pressed to tank for a long, cool ferment before being rested on lees until bottling.
The result is a classic Cabernet Franc Rosé, fresh yet full bodied. A good off-dry structure with stawberry, cream, orange blossom and ripe Cabernet Franc flavours, rich in the mouth with a long balanced finish.
The Rosé Story
More than one million years ago, grapes grew around the Mediterranean, on vines that barely resembled the modern style of today. It was in around 3000 BC that the first vinification techniques were developed and the wine culture was born.
In the early days of winemaking, vinification was based essentially on red grapes, which, after a quick “foulage” (crush) and no maceration produced a pink wine called “clairet” (claret).
In the thirteenth century France produced 87% of clairet -appreciated for their vivacity and freshness- to 13% red. The clairets were considered healthy, nourishing wines by their mostly urban, often aristocratic consumers. By the 1300’s, clairets had vanished in favour of reds. Occasionally clairets were a mixture of white and red grapes, first called Rosé in 1682.
Paid holidays were introduced in France in the 1920’s and the annual migration of holidaymakers to the South, brought some colour to the Rosé market. However, it wasn’t until the beginning of the 21st century that the style returned to favour. Quality was not always good, but this has now changed radically, as Rosé is enjoyed internationally, for its delicate colour and fruity flavours.
