While a nice iced cocktail or a cool, crisp glass of white wine on a sunny day is delightful, nothing pairs quite as nicely with blazing hot weather as an icy, slushy, adult beverage.
I challenge those people who—like me, until recently—feel wine and sugar, or wine and sugar and spirits, shouldn’t be mixed, to stop at just one sip of one of these delicious wine slushies or frosés on a sweltering day. It’s an effort in futility, so we may as well just keep sipping and let the sweet, icy nectar cool us down. There’s a reason the frosé craze has exploded over the past few years.
So what exactly is in frosé? And where can we find this delightful slushy boozy beverage being served?
Frosé is a frozen, blended drink with a rosé wine base. Think of it as a mashup between rosé and a fruity cocktail, with less of a hard-alcohol kick. A wine slushie is the same thing but made with any type of wine, not just rosé. Most places put their own spin on the beverage to create a signature recipe, with ingredients that include frozen fruit or fruit juices, spirits, citrus and sugar or sweeteners.
Find frosé or wine slushie nirvana at the following North Bay bars, restaurants and wineries.
Anaba Wines (Sonoma)
This summer, Anaba dove into the frosé world and partnered with It’s Always Sunny Sorbet, founded by Anaba Tasting Room manager Matthew McMann, to bring Wine Country an elevated frosé experience.
Anaba’s frosé is made with Anaba’s Rosé of Grenache and two spoonfuls of It’s Always Sunny strawberry sorbet—made with local, organic strawberries—making it the perfect summer afternoon treat.
Chateau Diana (Healdsburg)
Chateau Diana is one of the most popular places in Healdsburg to stop for a chilly afternoon adult beverage, thanks in part to their delicious wine slushies, which come in three flavors. All of the options start with a base of their master white wine blend, to which they add natural colors and flavors to create their Sour Cherry, Blue Raspberry and Marshmallow wine slushies. Customers flock to the Chateau on warm days to indulge in the brightly colored, sweet and refreshing frozen treats.
Fern Bar (Sebastopol)
As expected, Fern Bar’s take on frosé elevates the beverage to another level. From the perfectly blended, almost fluffy ice, to the high-quality ingredients—Meeker rosé blended with Charbay Vodka, guava, rose petal liqueur and lemon—Fern Bar’s Frozé All Day is too delicious for its own good. The marriage of fresh tropical fruit with a bright, juicy and tart rosé, silky smooth vodka and pink floral notes combines to make one of the prettiest frosés in Sonoma County.
Smith and Story Wines (Healdsburg)
Smith and Story purchased a frozen drink machine in 2020 and offered wine slushies, made with just wine, water and diluted monk fruit sweetener, at their Healdsburg tasting room all summer. They were a huge hit. But now that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, the winery only uses the machine on special summer holidays or special occasions—like the upcoming Labor Day holiday.
Get in touch with Brooke with wine, cider or drink related tips at [email protected].
