So today I would like to introduce you to the Saignée method of wine production. In general, Saignée (“sohn-yay”) means “to bleed,” and it describes one method of rosé winemaking that involves “bleeding” off a portion of red wine juice after it’s been in contact with the skins and seeds. Saignée is considered a byproduct of red winemaking because its primary function is to increase the concentration of red wines. Still, Saignée is a unique style of rosé wine because it is so often bolder and darker in color than any other rosé wine. Red wine is produced and becomes red because the wine juice which is always clear is left in contact with the red skins which color the wine over time. They also add tannin and other compounds to the wine. If you want a particularly strong or bold wine one way to do it is to increase the surface area of the skins in contact with the wine juice. For example juice from 1000 grapes in contact with the skins of 1000 grapes will produce a certain style of red wine. But what happens if you drain off the juice of say 100 or 200 grapes? You end up with less juice and more skins and hence a bolder, more tannic wine. But when you do that what do you do with the leftover grape juice? Throw it away? Well, if you are in the business of making a profit maybe you could ferment that extra juice and make another wine, though fewer bottles, and that is what Saignée turns out to be. Fermented wine from the juice that was removed, or bled off, the original vat of wine. Depending on how long the winemaker leaves the skins in contact with the juice determines to color and concentration of the “Saignée” Rose as well as the red wine. From my research, it seems most winemakers usually leave the original juice and skins in contact for minutes to hours, really not a long time, just enough to color the Saignée wine. A more widespread method of making Rose wine is by adding a small amount of fermented red wine to a white wine to give it its color. You can make a lot more Rose wine with this method. According to the experts, Saignee Rose wine is felt to be bolder and darker than standard Rose and hence the popularity. So next time you shop Rose see if you can find some produced using the Saignée or bled-off portion and see if you see any difference.
