EU law to make distinction between rose wines

Rose wine fans will get to know exactly how the grapes were treated to turn their drink pink under new EU rules laid out this week.

T he European Commission said it would lift a ban on blending red and white wines to make cheaper ‘vin de table’ and set out new labels to allow shoppers to make a distinction between blending – a method many European producers shun – and traditional methods of making rose wine.

It said rose table wine should be labelled as either "traditional rose" or "blended rose," to assure French wine makers that their rose would never be mistaken for a diluted red.

The new rules are likely to be approved by EU governments in May before coming into force in August, according to EU officials.

European winemakers often tint white wine pink by mixing it with crushed red grape skins for a short while or by adding a red juice that they get from bleeding red wine vats.

But simply blending red and white wines to make rose is strictly forbidden for most ordinary wines, but the ban doesn’t apply to Spain or to high-quality champagne producers who mix the two to make pink fizz.

Blending is a far cheaper method of making rose and there are no restrictions on selling blended rose wine from the rest of the world in European stores.

EU officials were keen to allow European wine makers to also blend their wines if they so wished, but faced fierce opposition from France, which did not want to water down traditional production methods.

The labelling solution offered a compromise, by setting a clear pink line between the two, and a similar distinction already exists for high-end quality wines.

 Alan Lodge 26.03.2009