The 2016 Long Island Rosé Report

It may seem like the thick of winter, but fear not; spring is knocking on the door. And spring on the East End means one word and one word alone:

Rosé.

If you, like so many of our neighbors, think pink when the first whisper of forsythia appears, prepare for the 2016 Rosé Report, as recounted by winemakers of the East End.

This year, Palmer Vineyards will release three separate rosés, including a dry wine called “Merlot Rosé,” an off-dry wine called the “Weekend Rosé,” and an inaugural Prosecco-style sparkler, called the “Rouge.” “My approach to the rosé is that it has to be a food-friendly wine, [with] more floral than fruit and with enough acid and weight on the finish,” said Miguel Martin, Palmer’s winemaker. All of Mr. Martin’s rosés are Merlot-based, which means gentle tannins and consistent ripeness. “We grow a specific block in the vineyard that we use for the rosé program,” he added. “We pick the grapes early and the juice gets enough skin contact.” In celebration of the 2017 rosé release, Palmer Vineyards will host a kickoff party on Saturday, March 18. The event is open to the public. This year, Palmer will release a total of 1,200 cases of their triple rosés.

Both the North and South Forks are marked, however, by drastic differences in style and production when it comes to rosé, giving pink lovers wide variety. “At Raphael, we only make one rosé,” said Anthony Nappa, the winemaker for Peconic’s Raphael Winery and owner of Anthony Nappa Wines. “It’s probably about 1,200 cases. [My private label] is 275 cases.” Mr. Nappa uses Pinot Noir as his star in both rosés, though the Raphael blend, in a nod to Champagne, also contains about 20 percent Chardonnay. “The Chardonnay adds a nice roundness and richness to the Pinot,” he said. He calls his rosés—both of which are made by blending as opposed to by the saignée (or “bleeding”) method—“focused and specific,” owing to his choice of varietals. The resultant wines, which were released this month, are darker and richer in color and style than the traditional Provençal rosé.

The wines of Raphael and Anthony Nappa Wines are wild-fermented. Mr. Nappa chooses not to add anything additional to the wines with the exception of some sulfites for stabilization. Reds are neither fined nor filtered and grapes for the rosé are picked early and are rarely manipulated. “We try to pick so that the wine is in the right place as far as the chemistry goes,” he said.

As for the 2016 vintage, Mr. Nappa sees the rosé as a particular winner in a sometimes-troublesome year. “We didn’t get super ripe, so that’s not a great thing for reserve reds, but for something like rosé, it was great,” he said. The resultant rosés are measured and balanced, with a healthy dose of acidity and moderate alcohol levels.

Christopher Tracy, the winemaker and partner at Bridgehampton’s Channing Daughters, is optimistic about the vintage. “The 2016 vintage was delicious,” he said, “especially for rosé. Great flavors and aroma; moderate alcohol.” In addition to the private-label rosés that the winery produces for hotelier André Balazs, Channing Daughters produces seven rosés, or rosati, as they refer to them. The diverse rosé portfolio includes a Cabernet Sauvignon; Franconia (another name for the Austrian grape Blaufränkisch), Syrah; Cabernet Franc; Merlot; Refosco; and Field Blend of Teroldego, Merlot, and Blaufränkisch. Excluding the wines made for Balazs, Channing Daughters produced 4,500 cases of rosé from the vintage, all of which was bottled between January and February of this year. The breadth of rosé coverage allows the winery to focus on specific sites, including the historic Mudd Vineyard in Southold (planted between 1974 and 1975 and one of the island’s oldest), and the Sylvanus and Sculpture Garden Vineyards, both in Bridgehampton. Wines are representative of their varietals and of their terroir, differing in acid, fruit, and aroma profile.

“The fruit is grown for rosé specifically,” Mr. Tracy said. “It’s all hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed. The color just comes from four hours of skin-contact during the pressing process. They’re basically made like white wines.” This attention to pink detail means wines that are balanced and fresh, with resounding acidity and vibrancy. Wines are held in stainless steel and are tank-fermented and do not undergo malolactic fermentation, contributing to this clean, quaffable style.

Channing Daughters releases its rosés, officially, in April, and although it doesn’t have a release party that is open to the public (members of the wine club alone are afforded this privilege) rosé devotees can sample the seven rosés—“a rosé for each day of the week,” as Mr. Tracy says—at the winery beginning next month.

In short: The time to drink pink is upon us. Get thee to a winery, and soon.