Ideas for using up rosé – Ask Decanter

Philip Galbraith, by email, asks: I have some remaining bottles of a 2016 Languedoc rosé that is still okay to drink but starting to lose its original fruity freshness.

So I can get through it quickly, can you suggest any interesting ways I could make use of it?

Fiona Beckett, a Decanter contributing editor and wine columnist for The Guardian, replies: Rosé thrives on its freshness, but so long as it’s actually still drinkable it should be fine in any dish for which you’d normally reach for a glass of white wine – a light dish of sautéed chicken for example, or, even better, rabbit.

You could also use it to poach fruit such as peaches or apricots, with sugar obviously. You’ll need about 100g to a bottle of rosé depending how sweet your rosé is.

If you want to make a virtue of the colour, use a slightly darker rosé.

(If you want to boost the fruity flavour, you could always add a dash of peach liqueur like RinQuinQuin or an orange curaçao.)

You could also – and this would be great for late summer evenings in the garden – use it as a base for a rosé sangria, with summer fruits such as peaches, strawberries and raspberries and a good splosh of Cointreau or Grand Marnier.

Sweeten to taste with sugar syrup, leave to infuse for 20 minutes in the fridge and dilute, if you like, with a little soda or sparkling water.

This question first appeared in the September 2019 issue of Decanter magazine.

See also:

How long can you keep wine open?

What can you do with leftover wine? 

Does rose wine age well?