Rosé wines are "pink" wines that are more full-bodied than most whites, but not as full bodied as most reds. Rosé wines are made using red-wine grapes, but not allowed to develop the full red color of a red wine. Rosé’s are generally a pink color, ranging in shade from a very pale, almost white, to a deep, rich , almost red color. Their flavors are usually less intense than the red wine origin grapes, and they are typically regarded as summer wines, since they are most often recommended to be served chilled.

Most Rosés are produced using one of three techniques: macerating the juice and skins for just enough time to reach the desired color, then removing the skins to stop the coloring; the sangenée process, which involves bleeding off some of the juice from just-crushed grapes after a short maceration period, and by simply mixing red wine juice into a white wine. The last is used for simple, usually cheap, Rosé wines.

The best method is the first; by allowing the skins and juice to remain in contact while the desired coloring is reached, a richer, more complex wine can be produced. Once the level of color is reached, the juice is separated from the skins, then fermented as in white wine making. The sangenée process can also produce wines with some complexity, but in this process, only a portion of the juice is drained. This produces the juice from which the Rosé is made, but also concentrates the juice of the parent wine, which can concentrate the remaining juice, producing a more complex red wine.

The blending method, where red wine is mixed in with white wine, produces a wine with a different (and sometimes less desirable) flavor profile than Rosés made using one of the more traditional methods. The exception to this are Rosé Champagnes, which are made by blending in a red wine, rather than the other methods.

Rosé wine is very common in France, especially in the warmer regions of the country. Provence is probably the most famous Rosé region, but the Southern Rhône, the Languedoc, and the Loire regions also made very nice Rosé wines. They are not as common in the US (except as white Zinfandel), but are gaining in popularity.