It’s summer 4 o’clock in the afternoon, you are sitting at the hotel pool, 35 degrees in the shade. You would love an ice-cold refreshing drink. The waiter brings a bottle of delicious Rosé in an ice bucket. The first sip and you realize… the Rosé is unfortunately not as cold as you wished. Thinking about sneaking a couple of ice cubes into your glass? Is that ok or absolutely against wine etiquette?
As the legend goes... in the 60's Brigitte Bardot and her husband Gunter Sachs, created the name for Rosé on Ice in Saint-Tropez: “Piscine de Rosé” or “Rosé a la Piscine”. Piscine in French means Pool or Swimming Pool referring here to big wine glasses that fit ice cubes in. These early influencers paved the way of adding ice. However some wine snobs will still give you the side eye if they discover ice cubes in your Rosé glass.
Our take on this hot question: In modern times we believe that everybody should enjoy Rosé to their individual liking. There are some easy recommendations, we want to highlight for maximum Rosé pleasure on ice:
Most important fact and the reason some “Wine Connoisseurs” would shed a tear when seeing ice cubes in the wine glass is that melting ice dilutes the wine and therefor the flavor. That’s why delicate and fine Rosés might not be the right choice for your Rosé on Ice. Another point to keep in mind is that the colder the Rosé the less aromas you can smell and taste.
An easy solution is to take a Rosé that has strong fruity aromas and maybe even a little bit more sweetness. Also limit your Ice additions to one or two ice cubes to avoid complete dilution of flavors.
However, if the Rosé arrives chilled perfectly and in a big ice bucket, we recommend to pour yourself smaller amounts and fill more frequently. This way you keep the Rosés chilled in the ice bucket and there’s zero dilution.
To summarize we can say, that in extra hot situations like on the beach or at the pool in the heat of the bright summer sun, some ice cubes are absolutely fine and help a little bit for your hydration too. ;-)
Cheers,
Julian
Here are some Rosé Recommendations to add ice cubes too: „Rosé à la Piscine“
- Château de Berne Esprit Méditerranée Rosé
- Gérard Bertrand Côte des Roses Rosé
...and of course our Saint-Tropez Rosés:
- Maison Angelvin - Sélection St.Tropez Rosé
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