The first question is, what’s the difference? White Zinfandel is sweeter and pinker than traditional Rosé with distinct flavors of raspberry and strawberries. It’s a wine that’s a great balance against the heat of a sunny day or spicy foods. Rosés, on the other hand, are more elegant and dry. The flavors tend more toward a whisper of rose petals, strawberries and light red fruits. A Rosé is great sipped with a fruit and cheese plate or with a seafood or pasta dinner featuring a light red sauce. Both wines can range in color from a very pale vin gris color to deep red.
The wines are both made from red grapes, but it’s how long the skins are left in contact when the wine is being fermented that determines how deep the color of the wine is. Also, it’s what is done with the wine after the tannins that are embedded in the skins are removed that determines whether the resulting wine becomes Rosé or White Zinfandel. Tannins control how dry the resulting wine is. If the wine is left as is, it will become Rosé wine. If the fermented wine is mixed with sweet white, it will become White Zinfandel.
A bit of White Zinfandel History: White Zinfandel, was first made in California by Bob Trinchero of Sutter Home Winery. Trying to create a richer Zinfandel from his vineyards in Amador County, Trinchero removed 550 gallons of juice from the fermenting tank to allow a higher skin to juice ratio.
Left with 550 gallons of white juice, he made wine and sold it in 1973 & 1974 as White Zinfandel. This wine had its trademark pink color, but it was also dry. In 1975 that changed when a “stuck fermentation” (a complete accident) resulted in a higher than normal amount of residual sugar being left in the wine which resulted in the sweeter #WhiteZinfandel that now gets sucked down to the tune of more than 10 million cases each year.
If #PinkWine is your thing, the good news is there are great choices across all price points and you aren’t likely to go broke drinking it! #GirlsGoneWine #FunLisaWineOh
California Girls Gone Wine 