The Rose Champagne Cocktail is a floral stunner you can serve your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day or your best friend on Galentine’s Day! It tastes like a fragrant bouquet of flowers. Make it with gin, floral liqueur, rose water, lemon juice and blush champagne.
If you haven’t walked into a store in the last couple of weeks, then you’ll have missed the giant displays of candy, stuffed animals and flowers to let you know that Valentine’s Day is around the corner.
Hopefully, you grabbed something sweet for yourself, if not for your sweetheart too. (If not, please make some chocolate-covered strawberries stat.)
If you don’t have a sweetheart at the moment, make them for your best friend! Everyone deserves a valentine.
And then you’re going to need something bubbly to go along with your sweets, so get out your champagne flutes and let’s get into today’s pretty pink champagne cocktail.
Rose Champagne Cocktail recipe
If you’ve never tried a floral cocktail, you are in for a real treat.
This Rose Champagne Cocktail is a rosy riff on my Elderflower French 75, which is a bubbly cocktail with St. Germain elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and gin. Elderflower and champagne together are an effervescent duo.
This rosy version uses blush champagne and rose-flavored liqueur or rose water to give the cocktail the beautiful fragrance and flavor of roses. (I give you lots of options below to make this cocktail with ingredients you can find.)
Serve this
Note: I am not a medical professional but I do want to mention that if you struggle with pollen allergies, this is possibly not the cocktail for you. Some people may have trouble eating and drinking florals, so bear that in mind. If that’s you, you may consider making the classic cocktail, the French 75, with rosé champagne instead.
What is rose liqueur?
Rose liqueur is a spirit that is made by steeping fresh rose petals in neutral alcohol. Sugar is then added for sweetness, giving this floral liqueur an elegant balanced taste that pairs beautifully with champagne.
Common brands are Combier Rose Liqueur and Drillaud Rose Liqueur, but if you can’t find it feel free to substitute another floral liqueur such as St. Germain (elderflower) or Crème de Violette (violet).
What is rosé champagne?
Rosé champagne (also known as sparkling rosé, pink champagne or blush champagne) is a sparkling wine with a pink or peach hue that’s derived from brief contact with red grape skins during the fermentation process or by adding a bit of red wine to the finished champagne. Very similar to the process of making rosé wine.
To be called champagne, it must come from the Champagne region of France. Otherwise, it is just known as sparkling wine.
The flavor tastes a lot like sparkling wine, but the addition of red grape skins or red wine will give the pink champagne some more depth of flavor, such as cranberry, strawberry or other fruity notes.
Sometimes rosé champagne has extra sugar added as well, but it can also be non-sweet (AKA dry or brut) depending on the maker.
Ingredients
You will need to pick up some specialty ingredients to make rose champagne cocktails, but you should be able to find them at the liquor store and a specialty grocery store like Whole Foods or The Fresh Market. I promise this is one of the best recipes and the hunt is worth it!
Gin
To make this gin cocktail, I recommend a more floral-tasting gin, but any gin will work great. Check out this guide to choosing a gin to help you decide.
For this recipe, I used Hendrick’s Gin which has notes of rose and cucumber, making it a perfect fit.
Floral liqueur
I used a rose liqueur for this recipe. Drillaud Rose Liqueur and Combier Rose Liqueur are two common brands.
You can use any floral liqueur in the recipe, such as St. Germain elderflower liqueur or Crème de Violette violet liqueur (which is purple, but will still be pretty).
If you cannot find a floral liqueur, don’t fret. Chambord is a raspberry liqueur that is a lovely rosy option. You can skip it if you need to and add rose water (more on this below), which will provide more rosy flavor. This is a sweet cocktail, so if you go this route, you will want to add about ½ ounce of simple syrup too, as the liqueurs have some sweetness added.
Lemon juice
Lemon juice gives this cocktail some acidity to balance the bubbly and sweetness.
When it comes to any cocktail, fresh lemon juice is always going to yield the best result, though you can use the bottled concentrate if you’re in a pinch. Lime juice will also work.
Rosé Champagne
Rosé champagne would be the most classic choice for this cocktail, but feel free to use a rosé cava, rosé prosecco or any other rosé sparkling wine, which are much more affordable.
It will likely be in a clear bottle and the liquid will be a nice pink color.
Since the rose liqueur is sweet, you can get away with a dryer rosé sparkling wine. Make sure that whatever you pick says “brut” or “dry.” “Demi-sec” or “semi-dry” would also work fine. Look at my guide to sparkling wine for help picking out a bottle.
Rosé sparkling wine is pretty easy to find in most grocery stores (or liquor stores, depending on where you live), but you can absolutely use regular sparkling wine or champagne instead.
The red color of the rose liqueur will suffice in giving this cocktail some pink color. However, pink champagne is just super fun to have around so I recommend it!
Rose water
Rose water (or rosewater) is a liquid made by distilling rose petals with steam or steeping rose petals in water. The result is a perfumed liquid that is used in beauty products and culinary applications around the world.
You can find rose water is readily available in the United States. Look for it online, at specialty shops or at Middle Eastern grocery stores.
Rose water cocktails like my elderflower rose gimlet give off a flowery aroma that transports you to the nearest rose garden.
If you are using rose liqueur: You can skip this ingredient. If you are using elderflower liqueur or another flower liqueur, or simply just using simple syrup in place of the liqueur, I recommend adding rose water to bring in the rosy flavor and fragrance.
Bonus, you can also use it in this dreamy rose white hot chocolate.
Garnish
I used a dusting of rose petals to garnish mine. Yep, you can eat rose petals! The ones I used are edible and food-grade. You may be able to find them at a specialty shop, too.
You can also use other edible flowers, a strawberry slice or a couple of raspberries to decorate this cocktail.
How to make a Rose Champagne Cocktail
You can make these great cocktails in just a few steps. You don’t even need a cocktail shaker!
- Pour your gin, rose liqueur and lemon juice into a champagne flute.
- Then top with your rosé bubbly!
- Garnish with rose petals, raspberries or strawberries. A mint sprig or lemon wheel would also work!
Then say a toast to whoever you’re with! Clink clink!
Variations and substitutions
Not a gin fan? You can substitute vodka in this recipe instead.
Make it non-alcoholic: To make this a mocktail, follow these steps:
- Use a zero-proof spirit like this Ritual gin alternative instead of the gin.
- Substitute ½ ounce of simple syrup and ¼ teaspoon rose water for the rose liqueur.
- Use a non-alcoholic bubbly like sparkling apple cider or sparkling rose lemonade.
Make it without rose liqueur: Use another floral liqueur such as elderflower liqueur (St. Germain) or violet liqueur (Crème de Violette). Chambord is another option. To add rose flavor, add ¼ teaspoon of rose water.
Make it without rosé champagne: Feel free to use regular, non-pink champagne or sparkling wine in this recipe.
More rosé champagne cocktail recipes
Here are some more simple cocktail recipes made with sparkling wine:
Make a Strawberry Rhubarb Champagne Cocktail with a fresh strawberry rhubarb syrup — perfect for springtime! Try it with rosé champagne.
Make a batch of Champagne Jello Shots with rosé prosecco to make them pink!
The Raspberry Mint Kir Royale is made with Chambord, sparkling wine and mint syrup. So refreshing for springtime!
Or you could make a sparkling grapefruit rosé cocktail with grapefruit and your favorite sparkling rosé cocktail.
More Valentine’s Day cocktail recipes
There are so many Valentine’s Day Cocktails you can make for your sweetheart or your bestie! Try one of these:
Similar to frosé, this pretty pink Rosé Wine Granita makes for a lovely alcoholic dessert.
Try whipping up a batch of Rosé Gummy Bears with your favorite rosé wine and pink gummy bears.
A Strawberry Shortcake Martini is a delicious dessert
Strawberry Mimosas are always a hit at brunch, and you can’t beat that rosy color from the strawberry purée.
The French Mule is made with brandy, ginger beer and lime juice for a lovely Francophile
Rose Champagne Cocktail
ingredients
- ½ ounce gin
- ½ ounce rose liqueur see note
- ½ ounce lemon juice
- 4 to 6 ounces rosé sparkling wine
- 1 pinch edible rose petals strawberry slices or raspberries for garnish
instructions
- Pour gin, rose liqueur and lemon juice into a champagne flute.
- Top with rosé bubbly.
- Garnish with edible rose petals, strawberry slices or raspberries.
notes
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Sandra Shaffer says
So festive and pretty! This is perfect for my daughter’s bridal gathering before the big day. Thank you!
Min says
Very good
Min says
Made it for a party and all my friends loved it! Your recipe was perfect! Definitely making it again!
Susannah says
I’m so happy this recipe worked out for you, Min!
Kathleen Pope says
Such a gorgeous drink! Making these (and already did some recipe testing you know to make sure they worked out) for a bridal shower we’re hosting soon! Delicious and gorgeous!
Susannah says
Oh these would be perfect for a bridal shower! I’m so glad you tried them out and they are the winner. Best wishes to the happy couple!
Julie says
This is a beautiful cocktail that I made for a girlfriend’s brunch. We all loved them and I was able to share the recipe too.
Michaela Kenkel says
We loved these so much for Valentine’s Day I am adding them to my Easter brunch menu!! So delicious!
Susannah says
I’m so glad to hear it, Michaela! They would be perfect for Easter too.