Saignée
The French term Saignée literally means " bloodletting " and describes a method for making rosé wine . The word is etymologically derived from saigner - to bleed. In fact, you can in this process the fermentation tank with red wine - mash after a few hours or days "bled", d. In other words, 10–20% of the must is drawn off without pressing . This then has a reddish color and is further fermented to make rosé wine.
Saignée is also a natural method of giving red wine a higher concentration, as the proportion of color and tannin- releasing berry skins in the mash increases. Therefore, Saignée rosé wines are mainly produced in traditional red wine regions. Examples are the wine-growing regions of Bordeaux and south-west France .
The disadvantages of this process are, on the one hand, that the must drawn off typically has a slightly higher sugar content than the remaining must, i.e. In other words, the rosé wine can be too alcoholic when the grapes are fully ripe. On the other hand, it is not possible to differentiate between those for red and rosé wine when choosing the plots or the grapes, although the requirements are quite different. If the aim for red wine is structure and body , then rosé wines should above all have a distinctive fruit and not be too heavy. The highest quality rosé wines such as the Tavel therefore usually come from special vineyards and are obtained through direct pressing.