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    The Only 8 Things You Need To Know About Rosé Wine

    A beginner's guide to thinking and drinking pink.

    1. First and foremost: There's no shame in drinking pink wine.

    Compared with its red and white cousins, rosé wine still takes a preposterous amount of sass from wine snobs and noobs alike. Rosé haters are either a) sad and ignorant enough to think that "pink is for girls," or b) individuals who were exposed at a young and impressionable age to white zinfandel (a sugary, mass-produced excuse for wine that rose to power in 1970s California) or pink André (basically champagne-flavored soda). Sure, there's crappy rosé out there, but there's also crappy everything else. Skip the gallon-size jug of pink dishwater and you'll be fine.

    2. Mixing red and white wine together is not how you make rosé.

    The longer the grapes' skins are left sitting in the wine, the darker the color of the finished rosé.

    3. You can make rosé anywhere in the world, from almost any grape.

    4. With rosé, the newest vintage = the freshest wine.

    5. This is the most important question to ask when you buy rosé: Is it DRY?

    When in doubt, look for something from France — specifically, Provence.

    6. You do not need to pay more than $15 for a bottle.

    7. You can/should drink it with BBQ.

    8. You can/should use it to make cocktails.

    OK! You're officially ready for rosé season.