Pink is Beautiful – Optimising the Colour of Rosé Wine

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Visual comparison of rosé colour.

Visual comparison of rosé colour.

By Dr. Eric Hüfner, Michael Sobe, Erbslöh Geisenheim GmbH

Rosé wine enjoys global popularity. Its colour and style are determined by the grape variety and vinification. Consumers prefer fresh, balanced wines, with marked fruit aromas and a pale pink hue. It is not easy to meet these requirements when vinifying grape varieties containing anthocyans in hot harvesting conditions. Depending on grape health, Maillard reactions can also occur as a result of laccase activity. This is why rosé must is often treated with activated carbon to tone down the colour and reduce oxidised phenols, which is detrimental to quality. This problem is not restricted to rosé wine production; increased colour extraction during process is often a problem when producing Blanc de noir and Pinot gris.

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Pinot noir rose must

Pinot noir rosé must, Ahr. (above) Left: standard pectinase. Right: Trenolin® Rosé DF enzyme.

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Pinot noir rosé must, Ahr. Photometric colour intensity

Figure 3 shows the total colour for a Pinot noir rosé must from the Ahr region, treated before pressing with 3 ml/hl of the Trenolin® Rosé DF and 3 ml/hl of a standard pectinase. The rosé enzyme was able to reduce the colour intensity from 2.92 to 0.95, compared to the standard pectinase.

It is therefore a challenge for suppliers of wine treatment agents and specifically for suppliers of oenological enzymes to offer product tools that facilitate production of very pale rosé wines, but do not impair the wine’s other characteristics.

Rosé colour

Depending on grape variety and vinification, the colour of rosé wine can vary from pale pink, via red, to salmon. Eight commercial wines were selected and analysed to better illustrate colour variations in different rosé wines (Fig. 1).

Enzymatic colour optimisation

There is a long tradition of using enzymes in vinification. The first products were successfully used in Europe towards the end of the 1960s. The purpose of oenological enzymes is to improve process characteristics, in particular to increase extraction of pigments and aromatics from grape must, to improve pressing characteristics and must yield, as well as to assist with sedimentation and flotation.

In Trenolin® Rosé DF, Erbslöh has developed a new, liquid enzyme formulation for mash processing, for production of rosé, Blanc de noir and Blanc de gris wines.

This is a pectinase complex that causes very little maceration and is therefore a tool that the winemaker can use early to minimise colour extraction whilst the high juice yield remains unchanged. The enzyme is the perfect choice for anthocyan-rich grapes, hot harvest conditions and high pH values. Only very short contact time is required to achieve the greatest possible must yield, as a result of the rapid decrease in viscosity.