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    Home » Recipes » Desserts & Treats

    Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries

    Updated: Jan 2, 2025 · Published: Jul 9, 2018 · by Jan Nunes

    A four image collage of desserts covered and topped with red wine dessert sauce with berries with text overlays.

    This exquisite Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries is a decadent dessert sauce bursting with rich flavor from your favorite wine and berries.

    This sauce pairs wonderfully with all sorts of desserts, such as vanilla ice cream and puddings, shortcake biscuits, or spooned over a delectable vanilla-flavored cake.

    This indulgent dessert sauce is easy to make and requires only four simple ingredients. It is also a perfect make-ahead dessert sauce for all occasions.

    Berries and a deep red sauce over vanilla ice cream.
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    Are you a wine lover? Whether you are a wine enthusiast or haven’t quite found a wine you like, you will love this red wine dessert sauce with fresh berries.

    Jump to:
    • About This Recipe
    • Ingredient Notes
    • How to Make this Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries
    • My Top Tips
    • Substitutions
    • More Delicious Desserts & Sauces You'll Love
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    About This Recipe

    I first created this recipe many years ago for a small get-together with friends that included dinner. I wanted an easy dessert that wouldn’t take a large amount of prep on the day of the event. So, I decided on serving ice cream… but wanted to make it extra memorable by serving it with a fruit sauce. It was summer, and every berry was in season and in the stores. So, a berry dessert sauce seemed the best choice. But… it had to be very special.

    A simple grilled seasoned steak was my entrée and I had chosen a lovely red wine, a Malbec from Catena Vineyards in Argentina, to be served at dinner. It was very fruit-forward with red berry flavors and had a lovely soft chocolate finish. So, I decided to use it, instead of plain water, as the basis of the sauce.

    But that wasn’t enough. I was going to make this sauce luscious with a bounty of berries. So, I added berries to the wine and sugar as it simmered and reduced, and, I added more berries after it simmered and cooled.

    Generally, fruit sauces are made by cooking sugar and water, which is the same as making a simple syrup and then adding fruit and possibly other flavors to make a sauce.

    But I wanted something more interesting and complex in flavor. This is why I chose to use red wine instead of water for the sauce and reduce it to concentrate the flavor of the red wine with the berries. Then I added fresh berries to the cooked sauce. Those two simple changes take this sauce from good to Wow!

    So, are you ready to make the best and most decadent red wine dessert sauce ever? Great!

    So, let's cook!

    Ingredient Notes

    Red Wine Sauce with Berries ingredients, clockwise from top right: red wine, fresh raspberries, fresh blackberries, and white granulated sugar.

    You only need these four ingredients to make this delicious dessert sauce:

    • Red Wine - Choose a red wine you would like to drink that is fruit-forward with flavors of red and blackberries. Good choices are Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux Blends, and Claret.
    • White Granulated Sugar - Just plain white sugar is used in this recipe. Please do not substitute.
    • Fresh Raspberries - Fully ripe raspberries that are bright red are best.
    • Fresh Blackberries - Choose blackberries that are bright, deep purple, and plump.

    Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities.

    How to Make this Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries

    Process Photo 1 - A medium saucepan with raspberries and blackberries, red wine, and sugar.

    In a medium saucepan, mix together red wine and granulated white sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat to a low simmer and add ½ of the blackberries and ½ of the raspberries. Allow the sauce to simmer for approximately 30 minutes to thicken and reduce the sauce.

    Process Photo 2 - Mashing the berries in the pan with a potato masher.

    Midway through the simmering time, use a potato masher to crush the berries in the sauce.

    Process Photo 3 - Skim the foam from the sauce with a spoon.

    Skim foam as needed as the wine and berry sauce simmers.

    Process Photo 4 - The sauce coats the back of the spoon it has reduced.

    The sauce is ready when it is slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

    Allow the sauce to cool in the pan. Then transfer it to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate.

    Just before serving, I take the sauce out of the refrigerator and add more fresh berries. As we eat dinner, the sauce warms to room temperature and the freshly added berries become bathed in that luscious reduced red wine and berry sauce.

    Last step - Add fresh berries to the cooked & cooled sauce.

    Every time I make this my guests are wowed. They have seconds… then ask if there is any more of the berry sauce to take home.  That's how you know this red wine dessert sauce is a hit!

    My Top Tips

    ♡ Use a Good Red Wine - Please do not use a "cooking wine". Use a wine that you enjoy drinking for this recipe. A fruit-forward red wine such as Malbec, Merlot, Bordeaux Blends, and Claret are excellent choices. Also, do not use a sweet wine or the sauce will be too sweet and cloying.

    ♡ Get the Very Best Flavor & Visual Appeal - If you do not need to use all of the sauce at once, portion out the amount of sauce you need and add fresh berries to that portion.

    ♡ This Sauce is More than an Ice Cream Topping! - You can also serve this berry sauce over cakes like pound cake, coconut cake, angel food cake, puddings like white chocolate and vanilla, and also over plain cheesecake and baked brie cheese.

    A petite parfait of white cheesecake pudding with layers of red raspberries and blackberries in a red wine dessert sauce.
    Red wine dessert sauce with berries over a slice of white coconut cake.
    A footed dessert glass filled with white chocolate pudding and topped with a red berry sauce.

    Substitutions

    • Use Frozen Berries - If fresh berries are not available, use frozen. Add the frozen berries to the wine and sugar as they come to a simmer. Then, use more thawed frozen berries in the final step to achieve a fresh, whole-berry look and taste.
    • Use Different Berries - Boysenberries, marionberries, and blueberries will all make a delicious sauce, too.

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    • Gooey salted toffee espresso blondies are stacked 3 high on a square of parchment paper.
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    ♡ Did you love this Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries recipe? Please leave a star rating and a comment below!

    📖 Recipe

    An ice cream sundae glass filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with red dessert sauce.

    Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries

    4.63 from 8 votes
    By: Jan Nunes
    This exquisite Red Wine Dessert Sauce with Berries is a decadent dessert sauce bursting with rich flavor from your favorite wine and berries.
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    Prep Time ~ 10 minutes minutes
    Cook Time ~ 30 minutes minutes
    Total Time ~ 40 minutes minutes
    Servings ~ 8 Servings
    Calories ~ 162kcal
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    Ingredients
     

    • 1 Cup Red Wine
    • 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar
    • 12 Ounces Fresh Blackberries, Divided
    • 12 Ounces Fresh Raspberries, Divided

    Instructions
     

    • In a medium saucepan mix together red wine and sugar. Bring the red wine and sugar to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to a low simmer and add ½ of the blackberries and ½ of the raspberries. Set aside the remaining berries for later.
      1 Cup Red Wine, 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar, 12 Ounces Fresh Blackberries, 12 Ounces Fresh Raspberries
    • Allow the sauce to simmer and reduce for approximately 30 minutes. Midway through the simmering time, use a potato masher to crush the berries in the sauce.
    • Skim the foam as needed as sauce simmers.
    • The sauce is ready, when it is slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
    • Remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. Transfer it to a glass bowl or container and refrigerate it until you are close serving time.
    • Remove it from the refrigerator and add the remaining berries. Stir very gently to combine and allow the sauce to come to room temperature before serving.
    • This sauce will keep in the refrigerator in a covered container for 1 week.

    Video

    Notes

    Please do not use a "cooking wine." Instead, use a wine that you enjoy drinking for this recipe. A fruit-forward red wine such as Malbec, Merlot, Bordeaux Blends, and Claret are excellent choices. Also, do not use a sweet wine, or the sauce will be too sweet and cloying.
    If you do not need all of the sauce at once, portion out the amount you need and add fresh berries to that portion.
    You can also serve this berry dessert sauce over cakes like pound cake, coconut cake, angel food cake, puddings like white chocolate and vanilla, and also over plain cheesecake and baked brie cheese.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 162kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 171mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 105IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 0.7mg

    Per 1 serving. All nutritional information on this site is an estimate. Your results may vary.

    Encharted Cook™ or Jan Nunes shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on this website or actions you take as a result.

    © 2018-2025 Encharted Cook, Jan Nunes. All rights reserved.

    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American

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    About Jan Nunes

    Jan is the creator and owner of Encharted Cook. Her cooking and baking journey began more than 50 years ago and she specializes in showing how recipes and ingredients can work together and why. At Encharted Cook you can rely on proven recipes and take your cooking and baking up to the next level.

    Jan Nunes

    Hey There!

    Welcome to Encharted Cook! I'm Jan, a seasoned cook with recipe charts, pro tips, and ideas to help you make delicious dinners. Over the years I've learned that many recipes are related... and if you learn to make one delicious dish, you can make many more!

    more about Jan

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