June 8 - Europe's farm chief has bowed to weeks of pressure from EU winemakers and withdrawn a plan that would have allowed rose wine to be made by blending red and white types.
The proposal had infuriated rose winemakers particularly in France, the world's largest producer, who wanted the EU's longstanding ban on blending rose to remain in place.
Following is a profile of the European Union's rose wine sector and a brief description of how the wine is produced:
PRODUCTION OF ROSE WINE Worldwide, around 22 million hectolitres of rose wine are made each year, equivalent to 8 percent of overall wine production. Three-quarters of that comes from EU countries.
Almost 90 percent of rose wine is obtained by macerating grapes rather than by blending or mixing red and white wines.
France is the world's top rose wine producer with about 29 percent of global output. With annual exports of 700,000 litres, or 12 percent of production, France has to import small amounts of rose -- mostly from Italy and Spain -- to meet local demand.
For quality AOC rose wine rather than lesser-quality alternatives, Provence is the country's leading production area where 40 percent of French rose is made; the Loire, Bordeaux and Rhone departments are also significant rose wine-growing areas.
Italy and Spain are the world's second and third largest rose producers, with annual production of 4.45 and 3.85 million hectolitres apiece. Rose accounts for roughly 10 percent of each country's overall wine output; both countries are net exporters.
The United States produces around the same volume as Spain.
For consumption, some 21 million hectolitre of rose wine are drunk around the world each year -- or 9 percent of overall wine consumption. Nearly 30 percent of this is made in France.
European Union drinkers are collectively responsible for three-quarters of the world's rose wine consumption. France leads the table of individual countries, followed by the United States, then Spain, Italy, Germany and Britain.
BLENDED ROSE
Rose wines have a different structure from red wines, usually have the crispness of white wines and an intermediate colour between whites and reds.
Most of the world's rose wine is made via maceration but blending red and white wine is also a recognised practice.
For blended rose, white wine is used as the base and then coloured with between 3 and 5 percent of red, giving a colour that approximates standard rose but with a different taste, structure and bouquet, producers say.
GRAPE MACERATION
Recognised quality rose is made through maceration of black grapes where the wine's colour comes as a result of contact between the juice of the grape, initially colourless, and the grape skin and seeds that contain natural pigments.
Maceration, the process of grape juice coming into contact with skins and seeds, usually begins when grape skins are broken and exposed to heat. With rose, this occurs before fermentation, whereas with red wine it occurs during and after fermentation.
The time of maceration depends on the wine to be produced and to the grape's ability to give colour; for rose, it can vary from a few hours to about two days, whereas with red wine, this process usually takes much longer.
This brief contact with the grape skins gives rose wine its light pink colour. At the end of maceration, and as soon as the desired colour has been obtained, grape must is separated from skins and the production process continues as for white wines.