FAQ - What makes French rosé different from New Zealand rosé?

Historically French rosé is a drier style of wine made from a blend of a number of regional predominantly red grape varieties. With the growth in popularity of rose wine worldwide and development of people’s palates to prefer a drier style, New Zealand vintners are now producing wine to meet this demand. However, in New Zealand our wine producers tend to prefer making wines of single grape varieties, predominantly Pinor Noir, or a blend of a couple of grapes such as Merlot and Cabernet. In New Zealand we don’t have the range of grape varieties that distinguish French regional roses (e.g. the primary grape varieties that are blended to produce rosé in Provence are Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah and Cinsault grapes).