Rosé Shaved Ice Is the Summertime Treat for Wine Lovers

Light enough to enjoy in the afternoon yet satisfying enough to cap off a delicious meal at night, there are few things more enjoyable and nostalgic than a heaping bowl of shaved ice. 

Call it bingsu, granita, piragua, snow cone, slurpee, or slushie — in any culture, shaved ice’s secret power is its adaptability. Hawaiian shaved ice leans into regional flavors like Li-Hing Mui or Lilikoi; Korean shaved ice is traditionally served with a red bean topping. Even the pickiest of kids can be satiated by the myriad of flavors at a shaved ice shop. From toppings to flavors, your way goes. 

Equally customizable and ubiquitous, alcoholic beverages — a la cocktails, beers, and wines — groove to similar “choose what you want” rhythms, albeit with more maturity.  Whether it be the type of spirit or the texture and the aromatics you enjoy, any decent bar gives you the options and the freedom to choose what you want to drink. 

The similarities between booze and shaved ice led us to create a dessert-cocktail hybrid that celebrates and centers around good wine but presents it in a way that honors the nostalgia and uniqueness of shaved ice. As detailed in our notes, this recipe can be tailored to suit your personal tastes. 

Notes From Testing

This recipe was designed to mimic the experience of eating shaved ice and drinking a wine cocktail simultaneously.  Here are some helpful notes we learned during recipe testing:

• Because alcohol does not freeze, the key to developing fluffy but not grainy ice was to find the correct ratio of wine to other liquids. Too much wine and the dessert would freeze looser — the texture skewing closer to a slushy. Too little wine made any sort of buzz disappear completely.  
• The golden ratio we found was 5 parts wine to 4 parts everything else. This produces ice that maintains height and longevity while still tasting like wine. We also borrowed cues from sangria, the wine-based summertime drink, to complement the wine with seasonal fruits and herbs. 
• The strawberry basil syrup for this recipe undergoes a process called maceration, where sugar pulls the juices out of cut strawberries and creates its own natural, super-up simple syrup. Slapped herbs are mixed in to impart freshness and complexity to the drink. 
• For the best result, we recommend using a dedicated ice-shaving machine for optimal shaved ice texture; however, pulsing the frozen rosé ice cubes in a food processor or blender totally works (though the resulting mouthfeel varies). 

Strawberry Basil Rosé Shaved Ice Recipe

Yield: 5 servings
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1-2 hours for the syrup, 6 hours to overnight for the ice to set

Ingredients

750ml or 1 bottle of Rosé wine
16oz container of fresh strawberries
1/2 – 2/3 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 1/4 cups of citrus juice (lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges)
3/4 cup of water
1 handful of basil or similar herb (mint, thyme, and parsley work well)

Special Equipment

Ice shaver or food processor

Instructions

To begin, make the strawberry basil syrup. Clean and chop off the green leafy heads of the strawberries. Thinly slice each berry lengthwise, from tip to butt. The thinner the slice, the quicker the berries will macerate. Set aside while you prepare the basil. 

Stack the basil leaves atop each other then roll the herbs into a tube. Cut lengthwise into thin strips. 

In a small bowl, toss the herbs and strawberries with your sugar. Let this bit sit uncovered for at least an hour. Once the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries have created their own liquid, you are ready to build. 

Strain off ½ cup of the liquid from the mixture and add into a tall pitcher. Save the remaining liquid and fruit to garnish later. 

Juice your citrus into a measuring cup then dump that into the pitcher. We used lemons and limes while testing, but feel free to add a medley of whatever fresh citrus you can find. Acidity is key here. 

Pour in a bottle of wine. For this pairing, we recommend an organic rosé like Coteaux d’Aix en Provence Rosé 2020.

Top off with water and stir thoroughly to combine, then pour the mixture into an ice cube tray. Half-quart deli containers are great here too. Store in the freezer overnight. 

When ready to serve, pre-chill your ice shaver by shaving a handful of regular ice. Once the shaver is nice and cool, pop out the rosé ice cubes and fill the shaver chamber – making sure not to overfill (or else the dessert may not shave evenly). 

In a medium bowl, shave the ice. Not going too fast or too slow; nice, even pressure/shaving is the way to go. Be sure to rotate the bowl as the ice comes out of the machine. The serving sizes for this recipe parallel the number of glasses you typically get out of a bottle of wine.

Serve immediately with extra strawberry syrup and fruit. 

Optional: Add a floater of champagne or ginger beer to the cocktail for some twang.