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Do you like wine and do you like cocktails? Well, we have good news for you. In this rather extensive material, you will find 18 cocktail recipes with almost all types of wines – red, white, rosé, sparkling, fortified – as well as some tips on choosing the best examples of these wines for mixing drinks. You’ll learn about new ingredients, rethink old recipes, and fully experience true balance.
The secret of a perfect cocktail based on or with the addition of wine, as well as any other cocktail, lies in maintaining a balance between sweetness, bitterness, acidity and carbonation. That is why in light, sparkling spritzes, which include the very legendary Aperol Syringe, you will find sweet fortified wines, drinkable bitters or vermouths in the composition. For the same reason, sweet fortified wines need an acidic accompaniment or a neutral diluent. Balance is the key to everything!
Almost all wines are suitable for making cocktails, but we will not delve into the complex classification of Bacchus gifts, but mix a cocktail with:
Mix a cocktail with red wine
Most red wines are suitable for blending, but it would be a huge waste to use vintage or any expensive regional wines for this. However, you should not take everything that comes to hand. First, always try to hunt for inexpensive dry wines, semi-sweet at most – they are a good base for any wine cocktail that necessarily includes a sweetener in the recipe. Second, always consider other ingredients and regional variations.
Preparing a cognac cocktail? Choose a wine with a pronounced tannin profile: Tempranillo, Durif, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc. Preparing a drink from the Sangria family? Give preference to fruit wines: Merlot, Garnacha, Carignan, Negroamaro, Barbera, Zinfandel, etc. Decided to mix up Kalimocho, who opens this collection? Well, the Spanish state employees will help you in this best of all: Garnacha, Tempranillo, Mourvedre.
Kalimotxo is a popular Spanish cocktail made from equal parts red wine and cola. He appeared in the 1970s, presumably during the Puerto Viejo festival in the Basque Country, where he quickly won the attention of young people and became a real icon of Basque culture. According to legend, Calimocho was invented by the sellers of one of the “txosna” (alcohol stands at Basque festivals) who noticed that their wine was not in the best shape, so they decided to mix it with something to mask the sour taste. Later, the cocktail began to be mixed directly in two-liter bottles of cola, replacing half of the contents with local red wine. So young Basques could carry wine to places where alcohol was banned.
Kalimotxo cocktail
- Xnumx ml red wine
- 90 ml Coca-Cola
- slice of lemon
Mix wine and cola in a tall highball glass, garnish with a lemon wedge.
In general, red wines, especially those with a bright fruity profile, should be accompanied by similarly fruity ingredients.
Cocktail Peasant / The Paysan
- Xnumx ml red wine
- 240 ml cranberry juice
- 120 ml orange juice
- 120 ml raspberry liqueur
- 90 ml cold Sprite
- lemon and orange zest
- thinly sliced lime
Combine wine, juices and raspberry liqueur in a pitcher. Leave the jug in the refrigerator for 2 hours until the drink has completely cooled. Then pour the cocktail into glasses with ice, adding 15 ml of cold sprite, thin strips of zest and lime slices to each.
Or even rethink the classics, for example, the Moscow Mule is not necessarily vodka! By the way, ginger beer for Win-Win Mula is possible and, given the shortage of this drink in the CIS, you even need to make it yourself.
Cocktail Win-Win Mule / Win-Win Mule
- Xnumx ml red wine
- 15 ml Maraschino liqueur
- 15 ml Crème de Mûre (blackberry liqueur)
- ginger beer
- sprig of rosemary for garnish
Add wine and liqueurs to a copper mug with ice. Top up with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
And red wine goes well with milk, which few people know about. Especially if you flavor this mixture with a bar of good dark chocolate.
Hot chocolate with red wine
- 170 g dark dark chocolate
- 80 ml fruity red wine (Pinot noir, Shiraz, Beaujolais)
- 240 ml of milk
- 150 ml of water
- a pinch of kosher salt
- sugar for garnish
Place the broken chocolate into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the wine and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is completely melted (about 3 minutes). Add water, milk and salt, bring to a boil and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into 2 heatproof mugs and, if desired, add a pinch of sugar on top.
And here we have a classic, mulled wine, but with its own specifics.
Mulled wine with muscovado sugar
- 750 ml fruity red wine (Zinfandel, Merlot, etc.)
- zest from 1 large orange
- 1,5 cups muscovado sugar or other dark brown sugar
- 2 tsp black peppercorns, lightly minced
- 1 8cm cinnamon stick
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
Place the spices in a gauze bag and hang in a saucepan of a suitable volume. Add wine, orange zest, bay leaf and put on fire. Boil the mulled wine over low heat for 10 minutes, remove, let it brew for 30 minutes, remove the zest and spices. Add sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Mulled wine should be served warm in heat-resistant glasses or mugs.
Mix a cocktail with white wine
White wines differ from red wines in terms of mixology only by a slightly higher acidity and a pronounced fruity-herbaceous line, which can be successfully emphasized or supplemented. Vermouths, flavored wines and herbs will be reliable helpers in this. And with white wine, you need to be delicate, not pile up a bunch of ingredients and focus on freshness.
Cocktail Appellation Cooler / Appellation Cooler
- 240 ml of dry white wine
- 120 ml aperitif Cocchi Americano *
- 120 ml basil vermouth **
- 4 tsp. apricot liqueur
- cucumber slices for garnish
Mix wine, aperitif, vermouth and apricot liqueur in a pitcher. Fill pitcher with ice and stir well. Serve in chilled white wine glasses with cucumber slices as a garnish.
*Cocchi Americano is a wine aperitif from the Asti region in Italy, in fact, wine flavored with various herbs and spices; can be replaced with dry vermouth, including homemade.
**basil vermouth: mix a bottle of 0,75 l of sweet white vermouth and 20 basil leaves; insist 24 hours, strain and use in cocktails.
The Saint is served at New York’s Café Moto in Brooklyn all summer. The aromas of basil and mint, with a fizzy soda head, refresh and quench your thirst on a hot day, while the light pungency of ginger syrup and the complex honey-spicy component of vermouth (it is recommended to use French Dolin blanc) will be wonderful companions on a cool evening.
Cocktail Saint / The Saint
- 90 ml dry white wine
- 45 ml ginger syrup *
- 15 ml white sweet vermouth
- 15 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- soda to the top
- orange bitter
- basil leaves, lemon wedge and mint for garnish
Combine wine, ginger syrup, vermouth and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Strain into a stemless wine glass. Top up with club soda, add 3 dashes of bitters and garnish with basil, lemon and mint.
* ginger syrup: mix in a small saucepan a glass of sugar, medium-sized fresh ginger root (10-15 cm long), peeled and cut into strips, and a glass of water. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, remove from heat and leave to cool overnight. Strain, pour into a clean container, store in the refrigerator.
Cocktail Sonoma / Sonoma
- 75 ml of chilled Chardonnay
- 15 ml of calvados
- 2,5 tsp honey syrup*
- 1 tsp verjusa**
- a couple of drops of “saline solution” ***
- lemon twist and thyme for garnish
Mix all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass, strain into cognac or wine glass. Drizzle with essential oils of lemon twist, which then decorate the cocktail with a sprig of thyme.
* honey syrup: mix a glass of honey and a glass of cold water in a jar, cool and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
**Verjus is a very acidic juice that is obtained from green grapes; you can substitute lemon juice or lime juice, but it’s better to make your own verjuice, especially since many delicious French sauces are prepared with it and used in salad dressings.
*** “saline solution”: mix 100 ml of water with 5,5 tsp. kosher salt (medium-grain salt for koshering meat), mix until the latter is completely dissolved; let the solution stand for 10 minutes and can be used; store at room temperature for up to 1 month.
Mix a cocktail with rose wine
A good rosé is rare, but if you get your hands on one, try to elevate its fruitiness with something expressive but graceful, such as cold hibiscus, sage leaves or strawberries. This complex “sangria”, a successful tandem of rosé wine and cold hibiscus, was created by the co-owner of the New York bar “Nitecap” Natasha David, for which we bow to her. This mixture is enough to cool 4 to 6 red-hot heads at a time on a hot summer evening:
Cocktail Everything’s Coming Up Rosé
- 240 ml chilled rosé wine
- 120 ml aperitif Lillet Rose
- 120 ml cold brewed hibiscus
- 60 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 60 ml simple syrup
- 30 ml of Aperol
- 120 ml soda
- fruit for garnish
Mix all the ingredients in a pitcher with ice, garnish with fruits: grapefruit and lemon slices, strawberries. Serve in chilled glasses.
Cocktail Vino Francesca / Vino Francesca
- 80 ml aromatic honey
- 80 ml of hot water
- 15 sage leaves + more for garnish
- 750 ml rose wine
- lemon twist for garnish
Dissolve honey in hot water in a cup, add sage and crush with a wooden spoon. Let the syrup cool, then strain into a pitcher of ice, squeezing hard. Add wine, stir, serve in glasses over ice, garnishing each with sage leaves and a lemon twist.
Cocktail Froze / Frosé (Frozen Rosé)
- bottle of 750 ml rose wine
- ½ cup sugar
- 200 g strawberries without stems
- 75 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freeze the wine in a small saucepan (about 6 hours in the freezer). Mix half a glass of water and sugar, boil and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add strawberries, remove from heat, wait 30 minutes, strain. Send the syrup for 30 minutes in the refrigerator, and then beat 100-120 ml of strawberry syrup, lemon juice, frozen wine and a glass of ice in a blender. Send the cocktail to the freezer for 25-35 minutes (until the consistency of a milkshake), beat in a blender again and pour into glasses.
Mix a cocktail with sparkling wine
Look for dry, and preferably extra-dry sparkling wines, unless the recipe calls for a sweeter wine like prosecco. Every gram of residual sugar in the company of even the smallest sweetener doubles, depriving the cocktail of its refreshing properties. It has been repeatedly tested on the example of Kir Royale, where just a couple of drops of Cassis turn semi-sweet sparkling into something sickly sweet and practically not drinkable. But if you learn how to handle prosecco and other sweet sparkling drinks, then summer evenings will be much more interesting and fun.
Cocktail Ginger-Lime Spritz / Ginger-Lime Spritz
- 1 5 cm piece of ginger
- 60 ml fresh lime juice
- 60 ml simple syrup
- 480 ml on average
- soda
- mint for garnish
Muddle peeled and roughly chopped ginger root in a shaker. Add lime juice and syrup, intense shake with ice for about 30 seconds. Strain into 4 ice-filled wine glasses. Add 120 ml of prosecco to each glass and top up with soda. Garnish each glass with a sprig of mint.
Cocktail Cucumber-Gin Spritz / Cucumber-Gin Spritz
- 1 long English cucumber
- 120 ml of gin
- 60 ml simple syrup
- 480 ml on average
- soda
Slice 12 thin cucumber strips for garnish. Cut about 15 cm cucumber into cubes and shake in a shaker with gin and syrup for about 30 seconds (until frost appears on the walls of the shaker). Strain into 4 ice-filled wine glasses. Add 120 ml of prosecco to each glass and top up with soda. Decorate each glass with 3 cucumber strips.
Dolce Vita cocktail
- 20 ml lemon vodka
- 20 ml Campari
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 20 ml orange liqueur
- champagne or dry sparkling wine
- cherry for garnish
Shake all ingredients except champagne with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Top up with champagne or any other dry sparkling wine and garnish with a cherry.
Mix a cocktail with fortified wine
And this is the highest echelon, the path of the classics. Port wines, sherries, madeiras – they seem to be created for deep, multi-layered, classic, masculine cocktails. If the recipe does not specify a specific type of fortified wine, use the simplest one. Otherwise, wastefulness. Cocktail port is Ruby, sherry is Amontillado, Madeira is Finest. Does it ring in your pocket, but does not crackle? Try Don Pomazan’s anti-crisis cocktails with port wine – many of them are really worth trying.
Cocktail Search and Rescue / The Search & Rescue
- 38 ml rye whiskey
- 22 ml of Ruby port
- 22 ml lemon juice
- 15 ml simple syrup
- 15 ml bitters Chinar
Shake with ice, strain in an old fashion glass.
Cocktail Gold Mine / Gold Mine
- 15 ml scotch whiskey
- 15 ml Galliano vanilla liqueur
- 15 ml sweet sherry
- 1 tsp egg white
- 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 30 ml lemonade
- slice of orange and cherry for garnish
Dry shake all ingredients except lemonade, shake with ice, strain in an old fashion glass. Add lemonade and garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.
The Executioner’s Blood or Khat’s Blood cocktail was first described by British writer Richard Hughes in the 1929 novel A Strong Wind in Jamaica. According to the author, the cocktail consisted of rum, gin, brandy and porter. However, another version of the drink took hold in the cocktail world, described in 1960 by novelist Anthony Burgess. According to him, this is an easy-to-drink cocktail with beer, wine and spirits, provoking some kind of metaphysical uplift and almost no hangover. Whether this is so, we do not know, but you should drink the “Executioner’s Blood” very carefully!
Cocktail Hangman’s Blood
- 2 gin fingers
- 2 whiskey fingers
- for 2 fingers of rum
- 2 fingers of port
- 2 fingers of brandy
- 1 bottle of stout
- 1 splash of champagne
Pour strong alcohol and port wine into a glass. Add a small bottle of porter and some champagne. The cocktail does not need decoration.
Wassail is a cider-based traditional Christmas drink in medieval England. There are a lot of recipes for a kind of punch, but with the addition of Madeira it deserves special attention!
Cocktail Wassail / Wassail
- 6 apples, cut in half, no core
- 2,5 st. l. light brown sugar
- 15 peas allspice
- 15 clove buds
- 6 cinnamon sticks
- 250 ml madeira
- 250 ml unsweetened apple juice
- 2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 st. l. grated ginger
- 500 ml any English ale
- 750 ml dry apple cider
- zest from 2 oranges
Bake apples in the oven at 180оWith sugar in the center of each of them for 1 hour, put a dish with a glass of water on a baking sheet. Brown the allspice, cloves, and cinnamon in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (about 2 minutes). Add Madeira, apple juice, nutmeg, ginger and other ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add baked apples and any strong alcohol, boil for another 10 minutes, let it brew for 20 minutes and you can serve.
Get your creative juices flowing and come up with your own wine-based cocktail. Don’t forget to share your recipe in the comments. Good luck!