RETHINK PINK - AFTER TASTING 135 DOMESTIC ROSÉS, HERE ARE OUR TOP PICKS Lynne Char Bennett, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, May 23, 2008

Rosé has finally shed its sweet label. But with so many wineries scrambling to make a dry rosé, are the new arrivals any good?

Production of premium American rosés has dramatically increased (see the accompanying story). Last year, The Chronicle Tasting Panel evaluated 81 domestic pink wines, 12 of which we recommended. This year the numbers were even higher, as U.S. wineries flooded us with 172 dry still rosés. After excluding wines released more than a year ago and those not readily available at retail in the Bay Area, there were still more than 135 contenders to consider. We strapped in for a long ride.

More wineries - noticing customer interest and rosé's increasing sales - are producing pink wine. Rosé can be made three ways. The traditional method is to crush red grapes, then bleed off some juice - referred to as "saignee" - to intensify the color and tannins of the remaining juice. Another method becoming more prevalent is choosing grapes specifically for rosé, pressing the whole clusters, allowing minimal skin contact, then fermenting it like white wine. Less usual is blending red wine with white wine for a resulting pink.

Saignee rosé is made by seasoned winemakers like Storybook Mountain's Jerry Seps, who has been making between 100 and 300 cases of Zinfandel rosé for the past 12 years, and rosé newcomer Blackbird Vineyards, which just released its first vintage of 400 cases made from 80 percent Merlot and 20 percent Cabernet Franc.

Paul Leary, Blackbird's chief marketing and operating officer, says the production of rosé has not been part of the winemaking regimen, but something both he and proprietor Michael Polenske decided to do as rosé lovers.

Rosé of Pinot Noir Other winemakers choose the whole-cluster route. Richard Sanford, founder and owner of Alma Rosa Winery and the co- founder of Sanford Winery, has been making whole-cluster Pinot Noir rosé since 1976. Sanford and his wife, Thekla, love dry Pinot Noir Vin Gris for its unique flavor profile, aging it to develop some roundness - the 2006 vintage will soon be released.

"Pinot Noir, with its subtle tannins and raspberry fruit quality, makes a beautiful rosé," Sanford says. He prefers it to other grape varieties that have more aggressive tannins and can't bring himself to make rosé from anything else, despite the rising cost of Pinot Noir grapes, which curtails his production.

On the flip side, Beam Wine Estates' large-volume Clos du Bois entered the rosé market last year with 4,600 cases of its inaugural 2006 vintage, which had limited distribution. Winemaker Erik Olsen had wanted to make a dry French-style rosé for some time but became more motivated after a trip to Southern France, where he thought it remarkable how much rosé was consumed - "more rosé, it seemed, than anything else," he says.

The Clos du Bois rosé program combines saignee with whole-cluster press. Olsen picks some rosé-designated Syrah vineyards at 22.5 Brix, a measure of the grapes' ripeness - about three to four weeks earlier than Syrah destined for red wine. Earlier harvest means lower sugar (therefore lower alcohol) and more acidity, which is maintained with cooler harvest temperatures, one reason the grapes are picked at night or early in the morning.

Syrah, Olsen says, is a natural base grape to use for rosé because it is readily available and affordable. For the 2007 vintage, Clos du Bois upped its production of Sonoma County Rosé to 20,000 cases.

Besides Pinot Noir, Syrah and Grenache, Sangiovese also make good rosé.

Washington state's Barnard Griffin Winery, founded in 1983, began its rosé program almost by accident. Owner-winemaker Rob Griffin's interest was piqued by the amount of dry rosé wine distributors were carrying from Spain and Southern France. Griffin's friend, grower Maury Balcom, planted 4 acres of Sangiovese, which Balcom intended to make into red wine. Washington-grown Sangiovese, Griffin noted, often makes a mediocre wine, but its fruit is well defined. Picking Sangiovese early for rosé enhances its high acidity and the tannins are mitigated by avoiding overextraction.

Griffin says, "I made 600 cases of Sangiovese rosé in 2001 almost as a lark and it became successful beyond our wildest expectations. It seems that wines that make the lightest reds make the best rosés; a lesser degree of ripeness and bright, fruit- driven characteristics that come on early - like Sangiovese, Pinot Noir and some Cabernet Franc - are best in Washington."

East Coast pink While The Chronicle's Tasting Panel mostly reviewed West Coast rosé, the East Coast is no stranger to it. Wolffer Estate Vineyard in the Hamptons, Long Island, first made 42 cases of rosé in 1992. Only one or two Long Island wineries were making rosé then, but now almost every winery makes one, according to Wolffer winemaker Roman Roth.

Roth, who began his winemaking career in Germany before moving on to Australia's Rosemount Estate, then to Saintsbury in Napa Valley, makes rosé by blending white wine and wine made from red grapes. Roth says this blended style complements his red wine program - for instance, using Cabernet Sauvignon for rosé in cooler years when it wouldn't do as well vinified as a red wine.

Wolffer Rosé - the 2007 vintage is a blend of 40 percent Chardonnay, 35 Merlot, 17 Cabernet Sauvignon and 8 Cabernet Franc - sells out each summer, even with the increase from 2,500 to 4,000 cases in 2006.

Domestic wineries are making more solid rosé. But during this year's panel tasting, 135 wines and 25 recommendations later, we discovered none that soared. Though we liked more wines, the highest rating was 2 1/2 stars; last year, three wines reached the 3-star mark.

What's happening? While more wineries are jumping onto rosé's bandwagon, the net effect seems to be that there are more subpar wines on the shelves. The panel found bottles that had volatile acidity, apparent bacterial off flavors and uneven winemaking. But there was still plenty to enjoy.

The challenge of rosé's future is to continue introducing wine lovers to dry pinks while maintaining the quality in the face of ever-expanding production. Winemakers need to discover the grape varieties, appellations and winemaking techniques that make the best rosé. I can't wait until next year's tasting.

THE CHRONICLE WINE SELECTIONS: Domestic Dry Rosé

Many wineries make small amounts of rosé for their club members and tasting room sales; occasionally they can be found on restaurant wine lists. Here are some recommendations, some of which may also be ordered online:

ƒ 2007 Amity Vineyards Willamette Valley Ravenous Rosé ($18) ƒ 2007 Arrowood La Rose Lasseter Vineyards Sonoma Valley Rosé Table Wine ($20) ƒ 2007 Blackbird Vineyards Arriviste Napa Valley Rosé ($25) ƒ 2007 Frog's Leap La Grenouille Rougante Rutherford Pink ($14) ƒ 2007 Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Napa Valley Malbec Rosé ($18) ƒ 2007 Hartford Court Sonoma Coast Rosé of Pinot Noir ($22) ƒ 2006 McDowell Valley Mendocino Grenache Rosé ($14) ƒ 2007 Navarro Vineyards Mendocino Rosé ($17) ƒ 2007 The Ojai Winery California Rosé ($16) ƒ 2007 Sebastiani Eye of the Swan Sonoma County White Pinot Noir ($13) ƒ 2007 Stoller JV Estate Dundee Hills Pinot Noir Rosé ($17) ƒ 2007 Summerland Winery Paso Robles Grenache Rosé ($15) ƒ 2007 Tolosa Edna Valley Rosé Table Wine ($18) ƒ 2007 Williams Selyem Russian River Valley Vin Gris of Pinot Noir ($18)