What they do is harvest red wine grapes that are rather high in potential alcohol to make a dark red wine, and then to concentrate the wine even further they “bleed off” a small amount of the juice in the fermentation tank.

This concentrates the red wine left in the tank -- more skins-to-juice ratio -- and the liquid that is drained off is allowed to finish fermenting in a separate tank.

What this does is make a rose that is 14.5 percent alcohol or more, and such a wine is a bit lugubrious. Quality rose should not be heavy and rich. It should be light and sprightly, and no self-respecting rose would be that high in alcohol.

The best roses are made with good acidity to balance whatever sugar is left in the wine to allow it to be succulent, and with higher acid levels to keep it brisk and crisp. As such, it’s best to harvest the grapes for rose at lower sugar levels.

One recent find I love is the 2008 Nine Vines Rose from Angove in Australia, about $10 a bottle.

Wine of the Week: 2007 Marques de Caceres Rosado (Rose), Rioja ($9) -- From Spain, a charmingly fruity/cherry aroma and a dry aftertaste in a perfectly balanced Rose.