Summer time. And what will make the living even more easy? A glass of rose wine. The pale, shimmering soft ruby colored liquid is truly a gem in the glass to the culinary world anytime of the year but especially when the temperatures soar. Rose style wines bring out the best in Mother Nature's Summer Garden harvest. And before you go and tell me that you don't like sweet wines, I must take you back for a bit of history on "rose" wines to remember that it is a STYLE and not a flavor of wine.

In the 1970's the California wine industry was just beginning to grow, as was a red grape called Zinfandel. Zinfandel thrived in the wine country soil and was made into a bold, dry red wine. However, the 70's wine drinking public wanted WHITE wine. So what could a California winemaker do with this fruity, spicy red grape to make it more palatable and profitable?

The Gallo Brothers put it in a jug renamed it "Hearty Burgundy" and made a fortune. But the thirst for white wine was yet to be quenched. So at Sutter Home Winery, Winemaker Bob Trinchero turned a mistake into a milestone.

He had a barrel of Zinfandel that experienced stuck fermentation, which means the yeast died off before turning all of the sugar in the juice into alcohol. This left Bob with a batch of pink, sweet wine. What could have been a brush with disaster became the blush of success. Pink was closer to white than red and America's natural proclivity to all things sweet made this combination a winner which we all now know as "White Zinfandel".

The French had been making rose style wines for years with great success. But the crafty Americans decided to call it "blush" which to this day can still be a tip off when the label on a bottle of pink wine says "blush", more often than not it will lean to the sweeter style. Wine labeled "rose" usually means the pink wine inside is a bit more dry.

After all it is a STYLE of wine making and most winemakers take one of two options when creating a barrel of pink wine : the rose/blush method (like Trinchero) or the French style of rose wine making called "saignee" (SAHN- YEE).

Blush/Rose style means the winemaker puts the crushed red grapes with skins and juice in a barrel, adds yeast that eats away the sugar in the juice upping the alcohol and lowering the sweetness. The winemaker decides how far to let that fermentation go and thus creates either a dry or sweet style of rose/blush wine.

The Saignee process has the winemaker putting full clusters of grapes into a barrel. No crushing. Just grapes. Yeast is added which starts the fermentation and the whole grapes naturally release juice. Sometimes this juice is also called "Free Run". Winemakers consider this to be the best or freshest juice of the batch which makes it perfect for rose wine. The winemaker wants the color and flavor of the red wine but not the bitterness or astringency which comes from longer contact of juice/grape skins.

You serve a rose wine chilled but as it comes to room temp the delicious quality remains with the fruit and acid creating a perfect culinary partner. When the day is hot and heavy but your appetite for wine is not, try a "rose" style of red wine. Here are two to find to give your mind and palate a new appreciation of pink wine.

Crios Rose of Malbec, Argentina-crisp notes of mulberry, white pepper, in a rather full bodied rose. Bring on the beef.

Rose des Karante, France-bright, crisp, aromas and flavors of plum, cherry and smooth clean finish.