Long, lazy days by the pool. Backyard barbecues. Outdoor concerts, Hill Country picnics at the river’s edge and evenings sprawled out under the stars. Whatever defines summer for you, it probably pairs well with a cool, crisp Texas rosé. While Texas might be known for yellow roses, it’s also garnering respect across the globe for its pink wines.

Chances are, you’ve encountered rosé wines at parties, seen them accompanied by the hashtag #roseallday as you scroll social media or you have a friend who jumped on the frosé trend. You may have a certain picture painted in your head when you think about rosé. But, just like with any other Texas wines, there’s much more to it than what you see on the surface. So, let’s investigate what’s really behind our love for local rosé.

For one thing, rosé quenches our desire for something chilled and easy to drink during the warm and hot months. You can find a rosé wine – dry, sweet, still or sparkling – that pairs well with almost any food, from burgers and brisket to salads to cake. And, the range and beautiful subtleties found in their rich hues — from creamy tangerine to dried rose petal to gleaming flamingo pink — make them fun to pour and swirl. Yet, beyond these undeniably alluring qualities, it’s the flourishing Texas grapes that draw winemakers to the task of producing brilliant, high quality rosé wines. Some of the red grapes that thrive in our soils and are resilient to our climate extremes, including Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Cinsault and Mourvèdre, make excellent rosé.

“Generally, most Texas wineries tend to make rosé from grapes that are commonly used in Europe, plus some local experimentation,” says Brian Heath, CEO and owner of Heath Family Brands which includes seven different wine brands, many with wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms near Fredericksburg. “Rhône varietals are probably the most common… A second draw is utilizing grapes that do well in the Texas terroir including Tempranillo and Sangiovese.”

While Heath Family Brands is the umbrella for diverse and distinct Hill Country wineries, including Grape Creek Vineyards, Invention Vineyards, Heath Sparkling Wines and Kuhlman Estate, and each has its own focus in terms of varieties, grape origins and styles, all offer a rosé. Fredericksburg mainstay Grape Creek Vineyards makes a Rosé of Malbec and a Cab Blanc, made from Cabernet Sauvignon, fantastic spring and summer options for red wine lovers seeking a chilled beverage during the hotter months. Invention Vineyards is home to a rosé of Mourvèdre which embraces bright red fruit characteristics with notes of cherry, cranberry and strawberry. Kuhlman Estate recently released a rosé of Syrah and Heath Sparkling Wines makes the everyday an occasion with its sparkling Adoration, made with Pinot Noir.

Rosé – wine with a pink hue that is the result of red grapes being pressed off their skins early in the winemaking process — has been around for about as long as people have enjoyed wine. In fact, many believe it to be one of the oldest types of wines as it is often made with the skin contact method, which has been used since ancient times. In Provence, France, the history of rose wine extends over 2,600 years to the arrival of grapevines from Greece in the 6^th Century B.C.E. The South of France has been celebrated for millennia for its pink wines — it was a sought-after product in the Mediterranean trade routes of the ancient Romans and wine connoisseurs still flock to the beautiful region today.

Several Texas winemakers are looking to the celebrated dry rosé wines of the South of France as inspiration not only because they are delicious and timeless, but also because the climate and terrain in the South of France has similarities with that of the Texas Hill Country.

 “I like the heat, although you definitely need the right kind of refreshments for it. Although I like all styles of wine, I started drinking a lot of the traditional, dry rosés from Provence. I love them,” says Rae Wilson, winemaker and founder of Wine for the People. After a dynamic career in restaurants, she moved to Texas in 2005 and spent years traveling and learning how to make wine. “As I started looking more into what was happening here in Texas, I noticed that some of the varieties that do well in the South of France also thrive here in different parts of the state. I thought, as we’re exploring this gigantic place as a wine region, rosé was a good way to introduce people to what we’re doing and present a consistent style… I love the versatility of it and thought it was well-suited to this area of the world.”

Rosé is the first wine she made for her own brand. 2014 marked the first vintage of Wine for the People’s flagship Dandy Rosé, a blend of Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Grenache, and Cunoise — all traditional southern French varieties.

Wilson feels that the grapes in Texas can make some of the world’s highest quality wines and is committed to using 100 percent Texas grapes for all of the wines she makes. “What we have here is really special,” she says of the Texas wine community, “and it’s going to keep growing as people are more open to exploring.” While she encourages that wine is meant to be enjoyed without any of the stuffiness, and ideally with music and friends, she’s ready for Texas rosé to be taken seriously and recognized for its quality. “I’m really excited about more of the world viewing Texas as the incredible wine region it is.”

Dandy Rosé is made using a low-intervention process, similar to what is common in Provence, with grapes picked for their superb natural qualities. “I prefer the wines to be clean and fresh, without any additives,” Wilson says. The red wine grapes used for rosé are harvested earlier in the season, around the same time as the white wine grapes, sometimes at night, and kept as cold as possible. They’re made using a similar process to what is used for white wines so that they maintain lower sugar and brighter acid levels, and are kept on the skins just until they show a hint of color. If the juice were to stay on the grape skins longer, it would become red.

Benjamin Calais, winemaker at French Connection Wines in Hye (and also Calais Winery in Hye), uses a similar process. “Grapes targeted for rosé are generally picked a little earlier than those targeted for red wines, which provides a little higher acid level, more similar to a white wine,” he explains. “Our approach is to get [our rosé grapes] in the press as soon as we possibly can.”  French Connection’s signature “Vin Gris” rosé is made with cinsault grapes (typically blended with a bit of Cunoise) from the Texas High Plains AVA, and Calais mentions that he uses a friend’s press directly upon harvest in the High Plains so that the grapes don’t get macerated on the ride to the Hill Country. Once they get back to the winery, “we’ll cold settle the juice the old-fashioned way for 3 to 4 days before racking off and fermenting,” he says.

Both Calais and Wilson mention that the earlier harvest date for rose is helpful when it comes to producing consistently great wines as the grapes spend a shorter time on the vine and are therefore less likely to fall prey to Texas’ extreme weather.

The rosé wines from Wine for the People and French Connection may challenge your notions of what Texas wine can do, such as manage to uniquely reflect Texas terroir and culture while simultaneously transporting you. Dandy Rosé and French Connection’s Vin Gris or La Connection can stand next to any of the rosés you may pick up from Provence, plus they are 100 percent Texas-grown, Texas-made products that help our local community thrive.

Though it is definitely a crowd-pleaser, Texas rosé is more than the hype, a perfectly curated Instagram post or a party drink. It’s a go-to summer dinner companion, a beautifully complex treat to brighten any day and the result of your fellow Texan’s passion and grit.

“I think high quality Texas rosé is now something people count on, production quality across the whole industry has gone up drastically and it’s become something we’ll reliably pick up including at restaurants,” says Calais. “I think we’ve settled into a really good place for Texas both on varieties and diversities of styles. It’s here to stay.”

• Bending Branch Winery
  • 142 Lindner Branch Rd.
  • Comfort, TX 78013
  • bendingbranchwinery.com
  • @bendingbranchwinery
• Becker Vineyards
  • 464 Becker Farms Rd.
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • beckervineyards.com
  • @beckervineyards
• Bernhardt Winery
  • 9043 Country Road 204
  • Plantersville, TX 77363
  • bernhardtwinery.com
  • @bernhardtwinery
• Duchman Family Winery
  • 13308 Ranch to Market Rd. 150
  • Driftwood, TX 78619
  • duchmanwinery.com
  • @duchman_family_winery
• French Connection Wines
  • 1197 Hye-Albert Rd.
  • Hye, TX 78635
  • frenchconnectionhye.com
  • @frenchconnectionwines
• Grape Creek Vineyards
  • 10587 US-290
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • Grapecreek.com
  • @grapecreekvineyards
• Heath Sparkling Wines
  • 10591 US-290
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • Heathsparkling.com
  • @heathsparklingwines
• Hye Meadow Winery
  • 10257 W. US Hwy 290
  • Hye, TX 78635
  • hyemeadow.com
  • @hyemeadow_winery
• Invention Vineyards
  • 4222 S. State Hwy 16
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • inventionvineyards.com
  • @inventionvineyards
• Kuhlman Cellars
  • 18421 E. US Hwy 290
  • Stonewall, TX
  • visit.kuhlmancellars.com
  • @kuhlmancellars
• Lewis Wines
  • 3209 US-290
  • Johnson City, TX 78636
  • lewiswines.com
  • @lewiswines
• Portree Cellars
  • 668 RM 1320
  • Johnson City, TX 78638
  • portreecellars.com
  • @portree_cellars
• Perissos Vineyard and Winery
  • 7214 Park Rd. 4 W.
  • Burnet, TX 78611
  • perissosvineyards.org
  • @officialperissosvineyards
• Ron Yates
  • 6676 Hwy 290 W
  • Hye, TX 78635
  • ronyateswines.com
  • @ronyateswines
• Sandy Road Vineyards
  • 383 Vineyard Row
  • Johnson City, TX 78636
  • sandyroadvineyards.com
  • @sandyroad_vineyards
• Siboney Cellars
  • 3427 US 290
  • Johnson City, TX 78636
  • siboneycellars.com
  • @siboneycellars
• Signor Vineyards
  • 362 Livesay Lane
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • Signorvineyards.com
  • @signorvineyards
• Spicewood Vineyards
  • 1419 Co Rd 409
  • Spicewood, TX 78669
  • spicewoodvineyards.com
  • @spicewoodvineyards
• The Burg Wine Company
  • Fredericksburg
  • theburg.com
  • @theburgwineco
• Torr Na Lochs Vineyard & Winery
  • 7055 TX-29
  • Burnet, TX 78611
  • Torrnalochs.com
  • @torrnalochs
• Wedding Oak Winery
  • 316 E. Wallace Street
  • San Saba, TX 76877
  • 6009B US 290 E.
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • 229 S. Pierce
  • Burnet, TX 78611
  • weddingoakwinery.com
  • @weddingoakwine
• Wine for the People
  • 113 E Park Street
  • Fredericksburg, TX 78624
  • wineforthepeople.com
  • @wineforthepeople
• William Chris Vineyards
  • 10352 US Hwy 290
  • Hye, TX 78635
  • williamchriswines.com
  • @williamchrisvineyards