White Wine Spritzer
This classic and EASY White Wine Spritzer is the most simple drink you could prepare for an al fresco meal!
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 bottle white wine, chilled
- 2 cups sparkling water, chilled
- tons of lemon slices and fresh mint
Instructions
- Combine the bottle of white wine and sparkling water and serve over crushed ice with as many lemon slices as you want and plenty of mint.
Notes
- Chill everything before you mix. Wine and sparkling water both go in cold. Adding ice to room-temp liquid melts it down to weak in 90 seconds.
- Don't overthink the wine. A $12 bottle is plenty. Save the nice stuff for sipping. The lemon and mint do all the personality work.
- Skip the cubes, use crushed ice. Crushed ice chills faster, dilutes more evenly, and looks gorgeous in a stemless glass.
- Pour wine first, bubbles last. Gentle pours preserve carbonation. Tilt the glass slightly and let the sparkling water cascade down the side.
- Stick to a 3:1 ratio for entertaining. Three parts wine to one part bubbles makes a stronger spritzer that holds up over a long pour. Drop to 2:1 if you want something lighter for an afternoon.
- Slap the mint before dropping it in. Press the mint between your palms with a quick clap. That bruising releases the essential oils and you actually smell it in the glass.
- Use the whole lemon, not just slices. Float a few wheels in the pitcher, then express a strip of peel over each glass before serving. The oil from the peel is where the fragrance lives.
- Build pitchers for entertaining, not single drinks. Combine wine, sparkling water, and citrus 5 minutes before guests arrive. Top with mint right at pour. Repeat as the pitcher empties.
- Stemless wine glasses, not flutes. Flutes preserve bubbles for champagne but limit how much fruit and herb you can add. Stemless gives you the room.
- Never stir vigorously. A gentle swirl is enough. Aggressive stirring kills the bubbles, which is the whole point of a spritzer.
Nutrition
Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 0.1g | Sodium: 34mg | Potassium: 135mg | Sugar: 2g | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg