A Guide to Rosé Production: Direct Press, Saignée, and Blouge Wine
Welcome back to Her Cellar, the blog where I pull back the curtain on the science and the magic that happens inside the cellar walls here at Veritas Estate Winery. With the hot summer weather here, I naturally think about, and drink quite a bit of, Rosé - the ultimate summer wine.
Depending on the style of rosé I want to make, there are three different ways to make rosé wine, each with its own signature qualities. Plus, there is a new trend for summer wines that you may find interesting as well.
Grab a glass, and let’s dive into the science of producing pink!
1. Direct Press (Pressurage Direct)
If you love ultra-pale, delicate, flinty rosés that taste like fresh early season strawberries, you’re drinking a direct press rosé.
The Science:
With this method, we treat red grapes similar to white grapes. Grapes such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, or Blaufrankisch —which thrive beautifully in our cool Michigan climate—are harvested early and brought straight to the bladder press. As the grapes are gently squeezed, the clear juice comes into contact with the pigment-rich red skins for only a matter of minutes or a couple of hours during the pressing cycle. Some winemakers may also crush and de-stem first and allow 12-36 hours of cold skin contact before pressing, depending on their preference.
The Result:
Because the contact between the skins and juice is brief, we extract very minimal anthocyanins (the compounds responsible for red color) and almost no tannins. The juice is immediately separated, pumped into a stainless steel tank, and fermented cool. This method preserves maximum malic and tartaric acidity, yielding a pale, salmon-hued wine that is incredibly crisp and lean.
2. Saignée (The Bleeding Method)
Saignée (pronounced son-yay) comes from the French word for "bleed," and it is actually an ingenious byproduct of making a bold, concentrated red wine.
The Science:
Imagine I have a vat of crushed Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon grapes intended to be a full bodied, age-worthy red. To make that red wine deeper and more robust, I need to increase the skin-to-juice ratio. Early in the maceration process—usually within 12 to 24 hours—I can "bleed off" a portion of the pink juice from the bottom of the tank. The remaining juice in the tank now has more skins, seeds, and stems in a smaller volume of juice, making it a much richer red wine. Meanwhile, the bled-off pink juice is transferred to its own tank to ferment independently.
The Result:
Saignée rosés are usually completely different from direct press rosés. The grapes are picked much later than for direct press rosés and thus have more sugar and less acid. The juice and skins may have also spent more time together in the tank after crushing. They are usually deeper in color, higher in alcohol, lower in acid, and carry a light whisper of tannin structure alongside more pronounced fruit notes.
Veritas Estate Nox Rosé is an excellent example of this style of wine. It is still refreshing, but much darker and closer in structure and flavor to red wine than to white. It pairs well with deeper flavors, including chocolate, but is still refreshing enough to be thoroughly enjoyed (aka crushed) on the patio in summer.
3. Blending (Assemblage)
This is exactly what it sounds like: taking a finished white wine and adding a splash of finished red wine to tint it pink.
The Science:
This is the simplest method of producing a rosé. You only need a tiny amount of red wine—usually between 5% to 15%—to completely transform a white wine’s profile. Interestingly, this practice is strictly forbidden by law for protective designation of origin (PDO) wines in most of Europe. However, it is the method used to make Rosé Champagne, and many winemakers outside of Europe like the freedom to experiment with blending.
The Result:
Blending to create a pink wine can give a wide range of results and is not usually the method used to create high quality rosés. However, this brings us to a new wine trend and a newly coined term for blending red and white grapes together.
The “New” Wine on the Block: Blouge 🍇✨
If the French words Blanc (white) and Rouge (red) are squished together you get the new wine term Blouge. Blending of white and red grapes to make this wine style can happen before or after fermentation. Honestly, it’s a brilliant tool for adapting to modern climate shifts. In years where unpredictable weather spikes the sugars in our red grapes too early, co-fermenting or blending them with high-acid, bright white grapes can bring the chemistry back into equilibrium.
The phenolic interaction during co-fermentation may also bind tannins from the red skins to the bright acids of the white juice in a unique way. The result isn’t quite a rosé, and it’s not quite a chilled red—it’s a light-bodied, ultra-refreshing, vibrantly fuschia or magenta colored wine. It gives you the acidity of a white wine, anchored by the subtle structure and crunchy red fruit of a red. It is meant to be served chilled and enjoyed with light food and outdoor fun or at an informal bar at happy hour. I am not sure I love the term Blouge. It doesn’t exactly sound sophisticated, but then it isn’t meant to be a serious or sophisticated wine.
Final Thoughts from the Winemaker
Whether we are gently pressing whole grape clusters or tossing red and white varietals into a tank together to see what we can create, winemaking is about celebrating what the earth gives us each season! This summer, grab a glass of crisp Michigan wine, find a patch of sunshine, and take a moment to enjoy the beautiful flavors of our region.
In vino veritas,
Dr. Sherry Seston
🍇 The Rosé Wine Science Glossary
Anthocyanins: The natural, water-soluble pigments found in the skins of red grapes that give red and rosé wines their color. They react to acidity, temperature, and oxygen during winemaking.
Assemblage: The traditional French term for blending different base wines (often different varieties or vineyards) together after fermentation to create a balanced final wine.
Bladder Press: A modern cellar press that uses a large, inflatable rubber bladder to gently squeeze grapes against a stainless steel cylinder. This extracts clean juice without crushing the seeds, which would release bitter, green flavors.
Blaufränkisch: A dark-skinned red grape variety native to Central Europe. Known for its high acidity and spicy dark-fruit character, it performs exceptionally well in cool-climate wine regions like Michigan.
Blouge: A playful combination of blanc (white) and rouge (red) used to describe a new style of light, high-acid wine made by co-fermenting or blending red and white grapes together.
Co-fermentation: The process of fermenting two or more distinct grape varieties in the same tank at the exact same time, allowing their chemical compounds to bind together right from the start of fermentation.
Direct Press (Pressurage Direct): A rosé winemaking method where red grapes are pressed immediately after harvest. The juice spends only minutes or a few hours in contact with the skins, resulting in an ultra-pale color and a crisp, white-wine-like structure.
Maceration: The winemaking phase where the grape juice sits in contact with the grape skins, seeds, and stems. This is the crucial window where flavor, color, and tannins are extracted into the liquid.
Malic & Tartaric Acids: The primary organic acids found in wine grapes. Tartaric acid is essential for wine stability and crispness, while malic acid provides a sharp, green-apple-like flavor.
Phenolics (Phenolic Interaction): A massive family of chemical compounds found in grape skins and seeds (including tannins and coloring matter) that directly dictate a wine’s texture, bitterness, astringency, and ageability.
Saignée (son-yay): Meaning "to bleed" in French. A method of making rosé by drawing off a portion of pink juice from a freshly crushed tank of red grapes. This concentrates the remaining red wine in the tank while creating a rich, deeply colored rosé from the "bled" juice.
Tannins: Naturally occurring polyphenols found in grape skins, seeds, and oak barrels. They create a drying, astringent texture on the tongue and inside the cheeks, providing the fundamental structural "backbone" of red wines.