The simplest definition of rosé is nothing more than a pink wine. Not red or white, just pink. Rosie hued wine has gone in and out of vogue for thousands of years as it was the favored wine of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Back then they drank a blend of red and white grapes watered down as only a barbarian would drink straight wine. It was believed it could cause madness.

While rosé has been produced in the US since the 19th century, it never really took off. The modern incarnation of California rose could be said to have started with Sutter home in the early 70’s when a small amount of semi fermented juice was bled off of the vats being used to produce Red Zinfandel. This juice was then fermented dry and sold as Oeil de Perdrix, which translates from French to “Eye of the Partridge.”. In 1975 they experienced a ‘stuck’ fermentation thereby leaving the resulting pink wine a bit sweet. This new style proved to be hugely popular and resulted in one of the most popular wines produced, White Zinfandel.

Along with Portuguese favorites Mateus and Lancers, these sweet rosés ruled the roost in the 70’s and part of the 80’s. No serious wine program would serve them due to sayings such as “Lancer’s Poisoning” and “The Mateus Headache”. These wines existed on the fringes of the wine world until the 2000’s. 

Resorts and beach vacation spots started serving it in the mid 2000’s, this combined with a growing French appreciation, Americans began to embrace the many dry styles of rosé. Today there are a myriad from all over the world, USA, Italy, France, Slovenia, Spain. A whole wide world of the beautiful pink available for your sampling. Swing in and try some of our favorites.