Rosé is often thought of as the simplest of wines – pale, refreshing and uncomplicated. But achieving this apparently straightforward style is one of the more delicate exercises in winemaking.
“Not all wines are built to age for decades, and nor should they be,” says Gusbourne Head Winemaker Mary Bridges.
“It’s perfectly all right to make wines that are just upfront and delicious. They bring a little bit of joy to the moment.”
Our English Rosé is designed to do just that. It’s intended to capture the brightness of the vintage, ready to be opened just as we enjoy the first warm evenings of the year. It’s the kind of bottle that disappears almost as quickly as it is opened.
“It’s a style of wine that you don’t need to think too hard about,” says Mary. “Buy a case, stock up the wine rack and just enjoy throughout the summer.” Simple pleasures.
The effort behind that blushing pink
If English Rosé is meant to feel effortless to enjoy, the work behind it rarely is. Much of the winemaking revolves around achieving exactly the right colour. After all, few wines styles are judged so critically, or quickly, by the colour in the glass. Too dark, you might assume the wine is going to be cloying or sweet; too pale and it looks lacking in flavour or interest.
“It’s a real balancing act to get the colour just right,” Mary explains. Once the Pinot Noir fruit has been pressed, we leave it in contact with the skins for a short while.
“We want just enough contact with the skins to get that lovely blush colour along with lovely aromas and flavours, but not so much that you’re starting to feel the tannins -or the colour becomes too deep.”
At this point, Mary has to make a judgement call about how much colour will stay put once the juice has been fermented and filtered.
“The colour ‘sticks’ to the yeast,” explains Mary. “They absorb it, which means that the lees are often really bright pink because they draw the colour out.” Yet more colour can be lost during filtration; it’s a delicate balance.
“You’ve just got to start with an intense enough colour that by the time you’ve been through these processes, you know you’re going to end up where you want to be.”
Choosing the style
Rosé can be made in several different ways. Some winemakers extend skin contact to deepen the colour. Others favour saignée, drawing juice from a red ferment to concentrate the wine that remains.
“If you want to up the intensity of your red wine, you can bleed off a bit of the liquid during the soak or the fermentation so that the skins are intensifying the volume that’s left,” Mary explains.
“That’s called saignée - the ‘bleed’.”
Those wines tend to show a different profile. “They’re often slightly darker and I would say more phenolic than the style of rosé that we’re making.”
At Gusbourne the aim is lighter, fresher and more precise.
“We’re very much following a Provence kind of style with our English Rosé,” says Mary.
The first taste of vintage 2025
Of course, because of its short time in our cellars, English Rosé offers the first taste of our most recent vintage. The 2025 season began with promise and continued with a beautiful summer. The weather turned autumnal just as 1 September rolled around. This onrush of cooler weather slowed the last phase of ripening, giving the team a little more time for the pick.
“We were super selective with our still wine fruit,” says Mary. “The Pinot Noir came from Lower Mill Hill and Heartbreak.”
The finished wine has really captured the character of this Kentish Pinot Noir. “It offers a real taste of the vibrancy and the precise fruit character of the vintage.”
A wine for summer
In the glass, English Rosé 2025 carries both brightness and character. “There’s some nice intensity of flavour as well – floral, with red fruit. It’s quite hedgerowy and English summer fruits feeling. Plus, it’s got that lovely bright citrus backbone to the palate,” says Mary.
“It’s definitely another summer smasher, in my view.”
Gusbourne English Rosé 2025 is available now at Gusbourne.com with complimentary UK delivery.
