Wine with a Twist
As the weather heats up, trade in your decanter for a cocktail shaker
Wine snobs, cover your ears. To the rest of you: Don’t fear the Spritzer. As summer approaches and everyone lightens up, wine cocktails can be delightfully refreshing. For these drinks, you don’t have to pull out the good stuff, but don’t use a wine you wouldn’t drink by itself. For the purists, we’ve got some quaffable patio pounders to beat the heat.
White Wine Spritzer
Possibly the most prevalent wine cocktail, the Spritzer is nothing more than club soda and white wine topped with a twist of lemon. Don’t hesitate to play around with this one: Instead of club soda, try a flavored soda such as San Pellegrino Aranciata or Fever-Tree Bitter Lemon.
Le Petit Hiboux
This cocktail, from New York’s Little Owl, is hard to resist. Pinot Blanc, Lillet Blanc, and apple juice make a light drink that’s not too sweet and goes great with food.
Strawberry and Lemon Balm–Infused Rosé Wine
The girliest of our wine cocktails, this combination of rosé, berries, and lemon balm is terrific in summer’s high heat.
Clerico (Sangría Blanco)
Sangría is classically made with red wine, but Clerico, or white wine sangría, deserves some attention too.
Claret Lemonade
We endorse any recipe that pairs lemonade with alcohol. And drinking this cocktail means you get to throw around the term claret (the British use the word to refer to dry, tannic, red table wines traditionally from Bordeaux), which makes it seem all the more classy, no?
Crimean Cocktail
We’ll excuse you for not knowing where Crimea is, but it would be unforgivable not to enjoy this cocktail.
Kalimotxo
This simple cocktail hails from the Basque Country, hence the crazy spelling. In the rest of Spain it’s known as the Calimocho or the Kalimocho. Other countries call it different things. It’s nothing more than Coke and red wine. If you add lemon-lime soda to your red wine, the Spaniards call it a Tinto de Verano (La Casera is the Spaniards’ preferred soda mixer, but Sprite is a fine substitute).
Hillary Wallbanger
A Harvey Wallbanger is vodka, orange juice, and Galliano. Sub in white wine for the vodka, and Harvey becomes Hillary.