When most people think of rosé, they imagine pale, blush-tones—delicate, airy, and perfect for sunny afternoons, we love them. But there’s another side to rosé, a dark side, that deserves more attention: dark-coloured rosé. With its deep pink, ruby, or even light garnet hue, this style offers a richer, bolder expression that challenges traditional expectations and provides a deeper more complex glass of wine.
Dark-coloured rosé gets its intensity from longer contact with grape skins during the winemaking process. While pale rosés may spend only a few hours with the skins, darker versions often remain in contact for a lot longer, allowing more colour, flavour, and structure to develop. The result is a wine that sits beautifully between traditional rosé and a light red.
People of think that these dark wines are going to be sickly sweet, but in actual fact they’re dry, beautifully balanced and complex, with ripe strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and pomegranate, layered with hints of spice, ripe citrus and herbs. Some darker rosés even carry subtle tannins, giving them a pleasantly firm texture and making them incredibly food-friendly, something that generally can’t be said for their pale cousin!
This style can be found in small pockets of the winemaking world but in our opinion the Spanish do it best with their deep Rosado wines. They’re just so versatile, perfect for a warm summer’s afternoon but equally at home on a cold wintery evening. And as already mentioned they’ll pair perfectly with everything from grilled meats, salads, roasted vegetables, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes to a spicy curry, the added structure allows them to stand up to flavours that would overwhelm a pale rosé.