plantings. The term "blush" also originated in the 1970s when wine writer Jerry Mead visited the Sonoma County winery Mill Creek Vineyards and sampled a pale, pinkish wine that the winery made from Cabernet Sauvignon. The winemaker was thinking of calling the wine "White Cabernet" but Mead suggested the term "blush" instead. However, by the 1980s, white wines were still extremely popular among American consumers. Seizing on this interest, makers of sweeter "blush" style rosés began affixing the terms "white" or "blanc" to the varietal name on their wine labels anyway — White Zinfandel, Cabernet Blanc, White Merlot, etc. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, these sweeter blush wines saw tremendous popularity among American consumers but their numbers had started to decline by the turn of the 21st century falling from representing 22% of all the wines consumed in the US market in 1997 to 15% in 2003. Today, White Zinfandels are considered part of the "blush wine" category of noticeably sweet, pale pink wines that often have very slight carbonation to give the wine a balance of acidity and some "liveliness". Very often winemakers will blend aromatic varieties like Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Muscat to add to the fruity nose of the wine. Long Island Rosés Since the early 1990s, Long Island has begun to distinguish itself as a source of rosé, often producing dry rosé wines that model the rosé makers from southern France. The eastern end of Long Island has over 60 vineyards and wineries that produce a range of rosé wines. See also Clairet, a very dark rosé sometimes considered its own category of wine Rosé apple cider, made using red-fleshed applecrabs Frosé, a mixed drink consisting of rosé frozen to a slush, with strawberries, vodka and lemon juice References Further reading