Blush Wines

• Skin Contact. This is when the blush wine is the primary product of red grapes. The pressed juice is only in contact with red wine grape skins for a brief period of time, imparting just a light touch of pink color.
• Saignée. This is when the blush wine is a by-product of red wine. "Saignée" means "bleeding" in French; sometimes this method is called "bleeding the vats". The skins of red grapes are what impart color, structure, and flavor; sometimes a winemaker wants to make a more concentrated type of red wine, so he or she will "bleed the vat" and extract some pressed juice, resulting in a higher ratio of skins to juice. The separated juice is fermented on its own, and the resulting wine is a blush. This is the most common method producing blush wines.
• Blending. This is simply when red wine and wine wine are mixed. Blending is not very common.