The Champagne in the Ombre Valentine Cocktail is a favorite for Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day, or any day. All you need is two ingredients, and you have a cocktail that looks elegant and tastes great. Put this cute strawberry garnish on it, and get ready to get called the hostess with the mostess! So how do you get this tasty cocktail in hand you ask? Pour about half an ounce or more of strawberry or blackberry simple syrup in a champagne coupe and top of with sparkling wine or champagne. Recipe for the syrups and tips on how to serve it below.
I’m all about my guests being able to serve themselves so I’m always coming up with a way to create a self serve bar. With this cocktail, I’ve created this by having glasses prepped with about half an ounce of syrup and the garnish paired with a bottle of chilled champagne. I also add a small pitcher full of extra syrup in case they need to sweeten the cocktail a bit or are ready for an extra glass. When my guests are ready to serve themselves, they can pour the champagne in their own glasses and enjoy.
The Ombre Effect
I named this cocktail Champagne in the Ombre because when I first made the cocktail, its color went from a beautiful deep pink on the bottom of the glass to light pink on the top. Here’s how I got this effect but honestly, if you can’t achieve this, no worries, the beautiful pink that you end up with is just as lovely.
Prepare the champagne coupe or flute with your desired amount of syrup according to your taste. The more syrup the sweeter the cocktail, the less syrup the more refreshing. Leaving the syrup sitting there for at least 15 to 30 minutes the more time the better. This gives the syrup time to get a bit sticky so that once you add the champagne it dissolves more slowly to create that color effect. I noticed that when I tried doing this with a freshly opened bottled of sparkling wine the first robust bubbles of that first pour would not allow me to create the effect. So here’s what worked. Pouring champagne/ sparkling wine that had been open for 15 minutes (or more) slowly, as I slightly tilted the champagne coupe filled with that sticky tablespoon of syrup.
Berry Simple Syrups
As I’ve experimented with the syrup recipes I’ve found that the kind of berries I used corresponded to how much syrup I would need to get my preferred taste. Strawberries and blackberries are at their peak of flavor in the summer even though we can get them year-round. So depending on the source of your berries, from frozen to organic or season, you will find a different level of sweetness and tartness to your fruit. This affects your syrup. I prefer using organic strawberries/blackberries year-round because they seem to maintain a better flavor. Keeping this in mind, I found that the amount of syrup I need is less when the berries are at their peak of flavor. The range of syrup I used to get the perfect Champagne in the Ombre Cocktail has been anywhere from .5 ounce to 2 ounces depending on what kind of berry I was using. So experiment with the minimum amount of syrup you need and adjust to taste keeping this in mind. Have fun experimenting! Recipe to create both the strawberry and blackberry syrup below.
Strawberry Heart Cocktail Garnish
To create this cocktail garnish pictured below, skewer strawberry hearts and blackberries alternatively on a cocktail pick and lay it on top of the cocktail. Directions on how to create the strawberry heart garnish in the second photo below.
Above, I used the whole strawberry but in some of my photos, I sliced the back and front of the strawberry heart to have a lighter garnish. You choose the look you prefer.
I hope you enjoy the Champagne in the Ombre Valentine’s Cocktail as much as I do. Have a great Valentine’s or Galentine’s day. Cheers!
Champagne in the Ombre Valentine's Cocktail
Ingredients
- Ingredients for Cocktail
- 1 bottle dry champagne or sparkling white wine
- 1 oz of your choice of either strawberry or blackberry simple syrup or more to taste
- Strawberry and Blackberry syrup ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup strawberries only for strawberry syrup
- 3/4 cup blackberries only for blackberry syrup
- extra strawberries and blackberries for garnish optional
- cocktail pics to hold fruit garnish optional
Instructions
- Add the water and sugar with your choice of either blackberry or strawberry to a saucepan.
- Let the mixture simmer until sugar has dissolved and berries are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove pan from heat and let it cool completely.
- Strain into a bottle/jar making sure to squeeze any excess juice from berries.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and it will be good for two weeks.
- Instructions for cocktail
- Add 1 oz of berry syrup or more to taste in champagne coupe or glass
- Top off with chilled champagne or sparkling white wine
- Cut extra strawberries into hearts and skewer the hearts and the extra blackberries on a cocktail pick. (as shown in the photo of the cocktail)
- The instructions on cutting strawberry hearts contained in the blog.
- Garnish the cocktail with a finished pick and enjoy. Cheers!