As if you really needed an excuse to drink rosé, it’s National Rosé Day tomorrow! This pink varietal has become the harbinger of the summer season, and not just straight out of the bottle but in cocktails, frozen rosé slushie (frosé!) and even as ice cubes.
Now, when you Google “rosé wine ice cubes” all of the listings use the regular ol’ boring ice cube trays. Meh, trapezoids. So I decided to jazz things up by using a different ice mold. Voila: rose rosé wine ice cubes! I mean, how cute is that?
I found these silicone rose molds by Baker Depot on Amazon. They’re described as being for rose-shaped soap, cake, or chocolate but are freezer safe so I thought PERFECT! And each rose holds about 3 ounces, which is a nice little pour that you can then top with wine, club soda, or some booze.
I’m not going to bore you with actual step-by-step instructions. You know how to make ice cubes. But I will say to pick a rosé that you love. For these rose rosé wine ice cubes I used Summer Water Rosé, which had been sent to me expressly for this purpose. You can find it at **Craft & Courage **in Grand Central Market for $20. I had never tasted the wine before til this moment and found it to be super dry and a touch acidic. It tasted so perfect with cheese, whose creaminess rounded it out.
Also a word of warning: Like a dummy I filled the floppy silicone mold with the wine and THEN tried to move it to the freezer. Turns out there’s no way to pick it up without spilling wine EVERYwhere. I spilled wine in my lightbox, on the floor leading up to the freezer, in the freezer trying to set it on the sliding drawer and naturally, when I was sliding the freezer drawer shut. Fortunately there was still enough left for this experiment. So either place the mold in the freezer first and pour the wine directly into it or put the mold on a tray first for easy and spill-free transportation to the freezer.
For the actual freezing, I left the rosé alone for 24 hours, to coincide with wine drinking time the next day. Plus, judging from other rosé ice cube posts online I figured it could use a lot of time in the freezer. Honestly I feared that maybe the details of the rose wouldn’t come through. It is booze I’m freezing after all.
But then when it was time to pop them out of the mold, what I held in my hand was a beautiful and perfect light pink rose!
Next time I’d like to try a darker and a bit sweeter rosé, and use it to chill a rosé wine cocktail, like the Rosé Bouquet gin cocktail here, which sounds delicious.
Start off with a great rosé wine and a rose silicone mold
This is where I did it wrong
All pretty BEFORE I tried to pick it up
After freezing for 24 hours
Tada! Rose rosé wine ice cubes!
Other ways to drink #RoséAllDay in L.A.
If you’re not a DIYer but want new ways to enjoy rosé this summer, Citizen Beverly Hills has a drink called Pool Style Rosé, which is just the wine served with rosé wine ice cubes.
Pool Style Rosé at Citizen Beverly Hills.
Bernadette’s downtown actually has a slushie machine dispensing frosé made with rosé, fresh watermelon and white grapefruit juice, simple syrup and orange blossom water, topped with Peychaud’s bitters.
Frosé at Bernadette’s.
At EP/LP in West Hollywood, for brunch they have a rosé sangria made with rosé, Cocchi Rosa, Sipsmith Sloe Gin, Dolin Blanc, Giffard Pamplemousse and Cointreau.
EP/LP’s Rosé Sangria.