Tempranillo Rosado

Rosado is a long-standing Spanish tradition rather than a recent import, and Navarra is its heartland. The region north-east of Rioja built much of its modern reputation on pink wine, and for a period in the late twentieth century it was producing some of the most respected rosé in Europe.

Tempranillo gives a rosado with more substance than the Provençal template. The colour tends towards raspberry or light cherry rather than pale onion-skin, the fruit is strawberry and red plum, and there is usually a savoury, earthy undertone beneath it. Acidity is moderate, alcohol is fuller, and the finish is dry and slightly firm. It is a rosé that eats well.

Much of it is made by the saignée method, drawing juice off the skins after a short maceration, which is what gives the deeper colour and the extra weight. Garnacha is the other major rosado grape in Navarra and the two are frequently blended, with Garnacha adding body and Tempranillo adding structure and red-fruit definition.

The style fell out of fashion as the market moved decisively towards paler and paler wines, and a good deal of Navarran rosado has been lightened to compete. The traditional darker version survives with producers who think the international style loses more than it gains.

Rioja also makes rosado, and there is a long-running tradition of barrel-aged pink wine there — a category almost unknown elsewhere, with a nutty, oxidative depth that has more in common with an old-fashioned white Rioja than with any modern rosé.