# What makes White Zinfandel different from most wines?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-white-zinfandel-different-from-most-wines/176945>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-white-zinfandel-different-from-most-wines/176945 "2003-05-23T01:40:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-white-zinfandel-different-from-most-wines/176945/1 "2003-05-23T01:40:33Z")

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The one I have here is almost like wine cooler or fruit punch. The alcohol level is quite low, 9% instead of 14% for the other bottles I have around. Very sweet. Almost no bite to it.

So what causes these differences? Is it the grapes themselves, or how the wine is made? Could you take any grape and make an “easy-drinkin’ wine”?

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**Author:** ![LabRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LabRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LabRat)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-white-zinfandel-different-from-most-wines/176945/2 "2003-05-23T01:46:00Z")

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I’ll take a crack at this. White Zin is a blush. That means that they make by peeling the skin off of red grapes and only crushing the pulp. Since most of the tannin and color are in the skin, you get a smoother, lighter colored wine.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-white-zinfandel-different-from-most-wines/176945/3 "2003-05-23T02:02:16Z")

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Okay. I’ve been googling and I can’t find the answer to this follow-up. Is there a difference between a blush wine and a rose wine? Because the process you describe sounds pretty much like the process for rose wine-making. The only difference I can see is that, IIRC, they don’t peel the skin off red grapes for rose, just strain them out after steeping them for a short period of time.  
Google seems to say that blush and rose are the same, but there are a couple sites which seem to draw a distinction, but don’t clarify.

Also, generally, wine with a lower alcohol level will be sweeter, as less of the sugars have converted into alcohol. BTW, you’ve got some pretty strong wines there at 14%. Most of the stuff I’ve had is in the 11-13% range.

If you like good quaffing wines, then go out and try a few Rosés. Nothing beats a bottle or two for a summer picnic. After being scoffed at by certain wine snobs, they’re making a comeback and finally being appreciated.