How does White Zinfandel and Rosé wines differ?

Whether you like White Zinfandel or not, chances are you know someone who claims to adore rosé but hates White Zinfandel. No, I doubt this is much of a surprise at all, considering White Zin has had a disastrous rap for years, because to how it's been created and sold. But stating you dislike White Zinfandel, but love sweet rosé, is like saying you love baguettes but detest bread. For those of you who've had your world shaken up, we'll explain.

Light rosés from France are prepared by allowing the skins of red grapes to sit with only the squeezed juice for a brief period of time, so imparting a pink color rather than a red one. The juice ferments, and once it has finished, the liquid is let to sit in steel tanks, where the dry rosé is the result. This is the wine that's been making a resurgence throughout the country and has come to be known as "love in a glass" when served as rosé.

To the very best of my knowledge, the only difference between White Zinfandel and all other Zinfandels is that the path by which it came into being was fortuitous. They attempted to introduce a deeper, more intense Zinfandel throughout the 1970s in California, with the help of winemaker Bob Trinchero and the rest of the Sutter Home team. By skimming off nearly 500 gallons of the liquid that had only been soaking with the skins for a few days, the winemakers sought to minimize the amount of juice and pulp left in the fermentation tanks. They believed that cutting the liquid would cause the same ratio of skins to liquid to result in a red Zinfandel, just like brewing with two tea bags creates a stronger cup. After this, the problem was no longer how to deal with the juice they had skimmed off, but what to do with it. The juice had turned pink because it was already somewhat dry, so they decided to bottle it for retail sales, but because consumers might not respond to the term “Rose,” they chose to market it under the name “White Zinfandel.”

It took several years for the White Zinfandel to gain popularity, but when another mishap changed the wine into the dessert wine we now know it as, it became a true phenomenon. Sutter Home's White Zinfandel was stuck when the yeast failed to complete its conversion of sugar to alcohol. To be true, the wine had quite a bit of residual sugar, thus making it sweet. It was no doubt helped by the drinkability and low price, but the huge popularity of the wine was credited to Sutter Home, which created a cheap, sweet wine in abundant supply.

The cheap pricing together with the wine's sweetness were the factors that proved to be the downfall for the White Zinfandels. Increasing the number of wine drinkers in America has made them aware of high-quality dry rosés from areas like France and refreshing, crisp wines that are especially good with food. No longer can a sweet pink wine be enjoyed.

White Zinfandel, which had fallen out of favor with winemakers at Sutter Home, is enjoying a new wave of popularity, though not led by those winemakers. Rather, in California, young winemakers are mixing Americans' newfound passion for rosé with their dislike to White Zin and coming up with dry rosés that they name White Zin.

So, the next time you believe you hate rosé but love White Zinfandel, or you believe you love White Zinfandel but hate rosé, remember that the style of the wine is the style you dislike, dry or sweet.