Rose Sangria

Summer in France means a lot of things in France. En masse vacations, a blissfully empty Paris, price increases (which happen during August, when everyone is out of town – of course), and vide-greniers and brocantes, known elsewhere as flea markets, where people sell all kinds of things. If you’re lucky enough to take a trip to the countryside, the brocantes are amazing. But some…

rose sangria recipe

Summer in France means a lot of things in France. En masse vacations, a blissfully empty Paris, price increases (which happen during August, when everyone is out of town – of course), and vide-greniers and brocantes, known elsewhere as flea markets, where people sell all kinds of things. If you’re lucky enough to take a trip to the countryside, the brocantes are amazing. But some small towns in France also have little antique shops that are always worth poking around in. And when your other half has a station wagon, well, the possibilities are endless. (And sometimes voluminous!)

peach for sangria

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Champagne On Ice

Who says you can’t put ice in champagne? Not the French. Or more specifically, not several French champagne producers, who’ve introduced specially-formulated sparklers meant to be served on the rocks. Adding ice to a glass of wine, typically rosé, is called a piscine (pool), popular in the south of France, where a few glaçons are added to wine to beat the heat. But it’s not…

Who says you can’t put ice in champagne? Not the French. Or more specifically, not several French champagne producers, who’ve introduced specially-formulated sparklers meant to be served on the rocks.

Adding ice to a glass of wine, typically rosé, is called a piscine (pool), popular in the south of France, where a few glaçons are added to wine to beat the heat. But it’s not always limited to rosé; when in Corsica, people were plopping cubes of ice in glasses of red wine. “It’s too hot…” one person told me, as ice bobbed on the surface of her glass. Champagne isn’t necessarily sacred either. The head of the most prestigious champagne house once told me, “It’s better to add a cube of ice to a glass of champagne, if it’s not served cold enough, than to drink warm champagne.” As someone who’s been served a glass of champagne at a less-than-ideal temperature, I have to agree.

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