The Wine Institute

Pink is charming and pretty, the color of flowers, seashells, clouds at twilight or the soft glitter of fire opals. Pink is also the color of some delicious wines. The wines appear delicate, but many are strong enough to stand up to spicy foods. They are also light enough to be a versatile match with a variety of lighter dishes. We know these pretty wines by several names: including rosé, blanc de noir, vin gris or simply blush. The wines may also have a name using the single grape variety from which they may be made, such as White Zinfandel, White Grenache, Pinot Noir Blanc or White Merlot.

White Zinfandel dominates the total blush wine volume sold in U.S. supermarkets, accounting for 60 percent of that category in 2005, according to ACNielsen figures. Extremely popular since the 1970s and continuing to be a favorite, these crisp, slightly sweet (generally 2.5% residual sugar) wines have introduced many consumers to the enjoyment of wine. The other wines in the pink genre are the bone-dry rosés and blanc de noirs. Gaining more and more accolades, these beautiful dry wines have high acidity, and complex aromas and fruit flavors.

Winemakers use nearly all types of red grapes to produce these wines. For rosés, well-colored grape skins are allowed only brief contact with the clear juice after crushing to produce the light crimson hues of a rosé wine, generally an average of six to 24 hours of skin contact. Blanc de noir wines, a term applied to white wines from black grapes, also known as vin gris-style wines, are also produced by quickly separating the clear juice from the color-laden grape skins, but immediately after crushing so that only the barest blush of pale color remains in the wine. Both rosé and blanc de noir wines are then made like white wines.

California Shipments/Consumption to the U.S. Market

(Millions of nine-liter cases)

	1990	1995	2000	2004
White Zinfandel	14.0	17.8	21.4	20.5
White Grenache	4.2	4.8	3.5	1.8
White Merlot	-	-	0.6	1.2
Other Blush	0.3	0.3	*	0.1
TOTAL BLUSH	18.5	22.9	25.5	23.7

Source: Impact Annual Wine Study 2005
* Less than 50,000 cases or 0.05%

2005 Sales of U.S. and Foreign Wines in U.S. Supermarkets

By color

% Share Total Table Wine Volume
Total blush wine	17.4
Total white wine	41.0
Total red wine	41.7

Source: ACNielsen

Advocacy Group

The Rosé Avengers & Producers (RAP) is an international group, dedicated to the promotion of dry rosés. For information, go to: www.rapwine.com.