It’s fair to say we don’t mind a ‘day’ in this industry: a day to celebrate the history and amazing stories behind great drinks, spirits and cocktails.
The last two weekends have given us World Gin Day and World Martini Day and as well as celebrating history, these days do give an opportunity to venues to draw in more customers with themed drinks, and there’s the opportunity to upsell in venue as well.
Wine days are possibly not something that always springs to mind, but this Friday, 25 June, is International Rosé Day. It’s a versatile wine that you can have some fun with, and as Tony Ingle, Chief Winemaker at Angove Family winemakers told Bars and Clubs, it is a wine that you can use to make some serious drinks and that you can definitely enjoy in winter.
“Absolutely you can, you drink white wine in winter, drink rosé as well, it gives you the opportunity to remember how lovely summer is.”
For bars with a small food offering rosés versatility is worth remembering, “It goes with everything,” Tony said. “I drink rosé with steak, it goes with fish it goes with salad, it goes with curry; we’re always looking for something that goes with spicy Asian food, rosé does the job for you.”
And what about beyond a simple bottle pour, there’s always interest in developing and constructing drinks and Tony offered his thoughts.
“You have to think of it in a particular way, it’s not a standard cocktail with spirit, sugar, flavours and then balancing of those things, the alcohol is particularly important. Whereas thinking of things like Pimm’s and Punches, that’s where your wines come in and those drinks are quite constructed.
“I came across a couple of great cocktails in the US, back when we could travel. One was from Florida, which was basically a slushie. They took a dry rosé, and put in the freezer until it becomes like a granita, blend that with watermelon and a bit of mint and it turns into this watermelon, rosé slushie. Not based on lots of alcohol but is fresh and it’s one of those celebratory things.
“The other one I found was using the rosé as an addition in a Mojito-type cocktail. So start with gin, organic gin would be great, stick a couple of strawberries in and muddle that up. Add some ice and a good glass of rosé, something like the Angove Naturalis Organic Rosé, shake that up and pour that over ice, can be an absolutely delicious, long, reasonable serious cocktail.”
And what are some of the flavour notes and aromas that are associated with rosé and that bartenders can think about working with?
Tony told Bars and Clubs: “I always think about the rosé itself, with rosé in general you’re talking about things like blackcurrants, redcurrants, strawberries. I like gin because it’s got herbaceous notes that can really work with the rosé, rather than a neutral spirit.
“I don’t really think that it can work with a brown spirit, although we do make a brandy, I’m not sure it works with rosé, but there are some genius mixologists out there who will be able to find a way to do that.”
International Rosé Day takes place on Friday, 25 June, why not try a Winter Pimm’s style punch? Ed’s note: I say that flippantly, I have no idea how easy, or not, that would be!
