Sparkling cocktails

If you've heard of Bellini or Kir Royale, this is not surprising. Several of the world's most famous drinks are made with sparkling wine. Other famous examples are Mimosa, Buck's Fizz, French 75 and Champagne Cocktail. All of these drinks have in common a certain lightness and freshness from the sparkling wine. The different variants are therefore like variations on a theme: Bellini is mild and sweet, Kir Royale offers a contrast between sweetness and acidity. Mimosa and Buck's Fizz are somewhere in between; while French 75 is acidic and fresh, and Champagne Cocktail is powerful and full of character. In other words, something for every taste.

Create your own twist

These drinks are often easy to make and it is easy to create exciting variations to suit your or your guests' palate. The drinks play on contrasts between acidic and dry sparkling wine and sweet ingredients such as juice, liqueurs or sugar cubes. Often neither ice nor a shaker is needed, a wine glass and possibly something to stir with is often enough.

With these ingredients and this equipment you can make fabulous sparkling cocktails:

• Dry sparkling wine.
• Freshly squeezed juice, liqueur or sugar cubes, cocktail bitters and barrel-aged spirits.
• A stemmed glass, preferably narrow.

The procedure is equally simple: If you use juice, it is often a good amount of up to half the glass. A couple of centiliters of liqueur; if a sugar cube is used, this is often soaked in a cocktail bitters and supplemented with a couple of centiliters of barrel-aged spirits. Sparkling wine is typically added at the end to best preserve the bubbles. Adjust ingredients and proportions to your own or your guests' palate.

Tips and tricks:

• Use cold, freshly squeezed, preferably self-squeezed, juice, and good, cold, dry sparkling wine. Many of the classic sparkling drinks have gotten a bad reputation due to the widespread use of lukewarm juice from concentrate and weak, sweet sparkling wine.
• Put the fruit to be squeezed in the refrigerator so that it is cold and can be squeezed as late as possible. If you squeeze the juice first and then cool it in the refrigerator afterwards, the juice will lose its aroma during the chilling process.
• If you cannot get hold of sufficiently good fruit or juice, add a dash of liqueur made from the same fruit to enhance the flavour. Make sure this is also chilled.
• Chill the glass in the refrigerator or with crushed ice if the drink is transparent; put it in the freezer if the drink is opaque. In both cases, the point is to keep the drink chilled. Frosted glasses provide better cooling, but spoil the appearance of a transparent drink.
• If the drink is to be stirred, stir gently and minimally; If you stir too hard and for too long, you will lose the bubbles.

Recipes

Below you will find recipes for some classic sparkling wine drinks with tips for exciting variations. The recipes are based on narrow stem glasses of approximately 15 cl.
 

Bellini - The sweet and gentle one

Ingredients and proportions

• ¼ peach puree, chilled
• ¾ cold Brut Prosecco

Procedure

Freeze the glass. Pour peach puree into the bottom and top up with Prosecco. Stir gently.
 

Background

Bellini is one of the sweeter and less acidic sparkling drinks: The sweetness is added by peach puree, while Prosecco offers relatively moderate acidity compared to other sparkling wines.

The drink was created by Giuseppi Cipriani at Harry’s Bar in Venice in the 1940s. The drink is likely named after the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini, because the drink has a distinct pink color that can be seen in some of his paintings.

Kir Royale - The contrasting one

Ingredients and proportions

• 1-2 cl Crème de Cassis, chilled
• Brut Champagne

Procedure

Chill the glass. Pour Crème de Cassis into the bottom and top up with Champagne.
 

Background

This drink is a bubbly variation on the drink Kir, a blend of Crème de Cassis (a very sweet blackcurrant liqueur) and white wine made from the Aligoté grape from Burgundy (a dry, very acidic and fresh white wine). The drink is named after the war hero and mayor of Dijon, Burgundy, Canon Felix Kir (1876-1968), who used official occasions to promote local products. Since Dijon was particularly famous for very sweet berry liqueurs, while Burgundy was one of the few places in the world where wine was made from Aligoté, Kir was almost a natural outcome; the drink balances the tart character of Aligoté with the sweetness of Crème de Cassis.
 

In Kir Royale, as the word "Royale" suggests, Champagne is used instead of Burgundy in Aligoté. Champagne also offers high acidity which, combined with the extremely sweet Crème de Cassis, means that the drink offers a lot of both sweetness and acidity.
 

Mimosa and Buck's Fizz - The ones in the middle

There is some disagreement about the differences between these two drinks. However, they have in common that they consist of cold, freshly squeezed orange juice and Champagne.
 

Ingredients and proportions

• ¼- ½ freshly squeezed orange juice, chilled
• ½- ¾ Brut Champagne

Procedure

Freeze the glass. Pour orange juice into the bottom and fill with Champagne.
 

Background

This drink gets its acidity from both orange juice and Champagne. The orange juice provides a moderate sweetness. The drink is therefore fresher than a Bellini, but not as sweet as a Kir.
 
Tip: For a more flavourful drink, add a splash of chilled orange liqueur.

French 75 - The fresh and sour one

Ingredients and proportions

• Juice of ¼-½ lemon
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 3-4 cl dry gin
• Champagne

Procedure

Shake or stir lemon juice, sugar and gin with ice. Pour into glass. Top up with Champagne. Stir gently.
 

Background

This is perhaps one of the freshest drinks in this category. In addition to Champagne, lemon juice adds extra acidity, while gin adds fresh aromas of juniper berries. The amount of sugar is also modest.

Champagne Cocktail - The powerful one

Ingredients and proportions

• One sugar cube
• A few drops of cocktail bitters
• 2-3 cl Cognac, chilled
• Brut Champagne

Procedure

Chill the glass. Place a sugar cube in the bottom. Soak the sugar cube in a cocktail bitters until it is coloured. Top up with Cognac and then Champagne. DO NOT stir; the sugar cube should remain at the bottom of the glass as a small reservoir of bubbles.
 

Background

Cognac adds body and power to this drink, while cocktail bitters tighten it up with bitterness. This is a characterful drink for the experienced.
 

Also read about Champagne for the May 17th breakfast