French Rose wine details 4

Markets and consumer trends

Until recently, it was difficult to identify precisely the production because the statistics do not distinguish the rose wines from the red wines. Today it is possible to say that roses are a little over 8.5% of world production of wine, or 21.5 million hectoliters, against 20 million in 2002. Three quarters of the volumes are produced in Europe with France in fourth place, ahead of the United States (18%), North Africa, and Eastern Europe (2% or 500,000 hl).

France occupies the site of the world’s leading producer of rose wines (29% in 2006), or 6 million hectoliters versus 4.5 million in 2002, followed closely by Italy and Spain, with production approaching respectively the 4 million hectolitres10. With an annual consumption of 7 million hectoliters, France is a net importer of wine rose. Germany produces about 770,000 hl, and consumes two times more like the countries of northern Europe, who are not producers. With 1 million hectoliters, the Provence region alone accounts for almost 5% of world production of rose wines.
The first feature of the rose wine market is that international trade is low. There is in recent years, however, an increase in trading volumes, which exceeded the 2.5 million hectoliters in 2006.  This increase was driven by the willingness of distributors to work with a full range of suppliers.  The pink, unlike red or white wine, is widely consumed in the region or country of production, which is a possible consequence of the lack of international standardization of product.

Thus the main producing countries are also the main consumer countries. The world leader, that is Provence, exports only 10 to 12% of its roses, and preferably to countries bordering France. As for the globalization of the wine market, competition for the pink remains largely internal to the country of production.

Furthermore there is an identity or general perception of the world regarding rose wine, but the images and perceptions of each country or group of countries sometimes are very different from each other. The roses produced in the world cover a wide range of tastes and colors, constituting a diverse but somewhat eclectic range, so that their only common denominator is often considered to be red or white.
One can nevertheless identify with two main sets:
The first is countries where the rose market is in crisis, as the United States where consumption of “blush” fell from 17% in ten years. The second is countries where the rose consumption and the market are changing, like France, where there is a change in the consumption pattern of the “wine” product. Similarly, the blush of California (White Zinfandel) has grown remarkably in recent years in the United States.
The twenty-first century pink requires a sum of knowledge and is defined by its own universe of consumption. Whether breaking with the world of wine or challenging the universe of simple drinks, the rose seems to be in line with the rediscovery of the pleasure associated with wine, both for its simplicity and its use as a vector of conviviality.

Controversies around mixtures of red and white
In January 2009, the twenty-seven States of the European Union (EU), including France, have adopted a draft resolution authorizing the mixtures of red and white to take the “pink.” This project was also supported by the Comite Europeen des Entreprises de Vin (CEEV). Faced with protests from growers, particularly in Provence, and due to the postponement of a decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning concordance of this authorization with its own rules, the Brussels decision was postponed to June 2009.
Francois Millo, Director of the Interprofessional Council of Provence wines, noted that this amounted to “legalized counterfeiting, just as states around the world claim to fight against it.” Some organizations or lobbyists (including South Africa and Australia, where these processes are already used) seek to allow mixing of red wine and white wine to rose wine, which is strongly disputed by the main traditional rose wine producers.

On June 8, 2009, the European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, has announced that the European Union waived on legislating rose wine: the status quo on the method of production of rose wine in the European Union was maintained. Producers saw, above that extent, a drift towards viticulture and enology industry exclusively at the expense of a tradition collectively shared.
From a technical standpoint, the wine is pink or white wine or red wine, or a mixture of white wine and red wine because it has a specific mode of development. The essential difference between rose and red wine is the timing and duration of skin maceration. In the case of rose wine, the skin maceration occurs in the wort before fermentation, whereas with red wine it takes place before, during and after fermentation. The diffusion of compound films thus occurs in the aqueous phase for rose wine but in the presence of alcohol in red wine. The extracted molecules are not the same in both cases.

On the other hand, the duration of skin maceration influences the quantity of extracted compounds. In the case of rose wine, the skin maceration varies from minutes to hours, while for red wine from lasts a few days to several weeks. The compounds of the film broadcast more intensely in the latter case. We can not imagine creating a quality rose wine by lightening the color of a red wine.
The essential difference between rose and white wine is the nature of the grapes used. The composition of white grapes and black grapes is very different. Beyond color, they do not have the same aromatic composition or the same “texture”. We can not imagine creating a quality rose wine by enhancing the color of a white wine. In this case, rose wines have the taste of white wines because they are composed of at least 98% white. They would approach the characteristics of the few white grapes that have spread in Europe (Chardonnay, Sauvignon, etc.).

The risk of standardization is important. The richness and diversity of rose wines of the world are threatened. This palette of color and taste is but an asset for rose wine; it makes possible its use at any time of day, year and life. Playing on the evocative nature of the pink color without offering the aroma and taste is therefore likely to deceive consumers.
In France, only one zone designation allows the assembly of red and white wines to obtain pink Champagne, which in the preparation of the vintage, it is possible to assemble Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier wines with those of Pinot noir. However, it is not a simple blend of finished wines since the wine must undergo the secondary fermentation, which corresponds to a new fermentation, the liquor circulation, and gives the cylinder foam.

It is then followed by a period of bottle aging, a minimum of nine months, and which further changes the profile of the wine obtained through the phenomena of autolysis of yeasts. Another exception to this cutting inderdiction persists in Europe for the ‘vino tinto de mezcla’ produced in Spain.