White, Red, Rosé, and Amber

At Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, the 2025 Patelin de Tablas Rosé did not follow one pink-wine recipe. Most fruit went directly to the press. A smaller portion spent twelve hours on skins before pressing and joining the blend.

Chelsea Franchi now directs winemaking, Craig Hamm is Winemaker, and longtime Winemaker Neil Collins directs production. Their practical question was not whether one rosé method was pure. It was how each lot could contribute colour, fruit, spice, and structure.

To understand that decision, follow the skins. Most grape juice begins pale. Much of a red grape’s visible pigment and a large share of its phenolic material sit in the skin, while seeds and stems add their own compounds.

Cut through a dark-skinned grape and you usually find translucent pulp inside a coloured envelope. Exceptions called teinturier grapes carry pigment in the flesh too, which is why “all red grapes have clear juice” is almost right and still wrong.

A common white-wine route sends whole clusters or crushed grapes to the press early. Juice leaves most solids behind, settles, and ferments. Short skin contact can still occur, but prolonged extraction is not the default path.

A common red route ferments juice with skins and seeds. Carbon dioxide lifts solids into a cap, alcohol rises, and cellar work keeps liquid and solids interacting until the wine is drained and pressed.

Direct-press rosé places dark-skinned grapes in the press soon after harvest. Free-run juice and gentle pressure pick up limited pigment during handling. The result can be pale, but pale colour alone cannot prove this route.

A short-maceration route lets crushed or destemmed fruit remain with skins for a planned interval before pressing. More time can increase transfer, but variety, ripeness, temperature, movement, and pressure change the result.