3 Wine Slush Recipes to Rescue You from This Sweltering Summer

Why stop at frosé? Frozen wine cocktails are your new summer go-to.

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Published on June 30, 2021

Year after year, the summer swelter starts, and year after year now, out comes the frosé, brunch's ubiquitous Slurpee, pink as the tropical dawn, sweet and strawberried and … zzz.

Oh, sorry … Dozed off there for a moment. Where was I?

But I don't want to go all mean-girl about frosé. It's the original berry-bright brainfreezer. I just can't figure out how it edged out all the other gorgeous wines that are perfect for a slushy summer treatment.

Frozen Hula Hoop Cocktails — Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Rishon Hanners / Prop Styling by Audrey Davis

There are plenty of delicious combinations that follow the classic frosé template, where wine, fruit, ice, and a little sugar meet the blender. Consider the jammy blackberry notes in Shiraz or the bursts of black cherry in Cabernet; imagine how perfectly a little ripe pineapple might blend with the right Chardonnay. And don't forget to explore the realms of fortified and aromatized wines—vermouths, sherries, ports, and so on.

Savvy bartenders have noticed these possibilities and have other enhancements to turn to, as well: dialing up the booze or the sugar, or turning to other fruits, liqueurs, or herbs. The results are frozen wine cocktails that are sophisticated but still hit all the notes that made frosé a summer blockbuster.

Atlanta's Keyatta Mincey-Parker uses an infusion of flowers to bring tartness and a pop of color to her Be Cool, a brew of gin, Campari, and hibiscus-infused blanc vermouth; it's like a beach drink that studied in Milan. In Washington, D.C., Chantal Tseng, a passionate advocate for Spanish sherries, uses the nutty notes in amontillado beautifully for her luscious, peach-based Stop the Hourglass. Finally, the berries of a classic frosé get a changeup in Erick Castro's rum based fruit concoction, the Frozen Hula Hoop, which layers raspberries with lemon and pineapple, taking red wine in a tropical direction. Castro, the host of the Bartender at Large podcast, says his bars typically concoct the drink using a slushy machine, but it whips up in a blender just fine.