With winter in the rearview and summer going strong, consumers are ready to embrace the season with frosty beverages—and it doesn’t get frostier than wine slushies. A spawn of the uber-cool rosé wine trend, frozen rosé—frosé to those in the know—is a perfect blend (literally) of wine, fruit, and ice. Highly photogenic and sporting a millennial-pink hue, frosé is endlessly customizable to incorporate summer’s bounty of fruit into this boozy slush.
Delicate and refreshing, frosé offers consumers a chance to blend up a drink tailored to their own unique preferences. While strawberry and watermelon are the conventional choice, creative shoppers will be inclined to branch out further into the produce section, picking up other berries, peaches, or even citrus fruits to toss into the blender. The resulting concoction perfectly pairs sweet summer produce with a cool, crisp wine for a drink that’s ready for brunches, parties, and all manner of backyard shenanigans.
Promote this summer slush with fruit and wine pairings in the produce aisle, offering customers foolproof flavor combos to play with at home. Summer heat is more bearable with a cold drink in hand, and frosé provides an instant chill at any time of day. So, bust out the blender, string up a hammock, and get ready to sip on this Insta-worthy treat all season long.
Ingredients
1 750 ml bottle good rosé wine
1 cup watermelon juice
½ cup strawberry syrup
½ cup ice
Juice of 1 lime
Strawberries, a slice of lime, or mint, for garnish (optional)
For the strawberry syrup:
½ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup strawberries, hulled and quartered
Directions:
1. Freeze wine in a container overnight.
2. Add frozen wine, watermelon juice, strawberry syrup, ice, and lime juice to a blender and blend on high until slushified.
3. Adjust flavors to your liking, adding more watermelon juice or strawberry syrup as desired. Wine loses its sweetness when it freezes, so you may want to add more strawberry syrup than you would think.
4. Pour into glasses, garnish with lime or strawberries and mint (optional), and serve.
5. To make the strawberry syrup: boil water in a small saucepan. Once water is boiling, mix in sugar until fully dissolved. Add strawberries and boil for 5 minutes. Let sit until cooled. Strain the syrup through a sieve, reserving the syrup and discarding the strawberries (or putting them on top of ice cream).
