Like we’ve been saying all month, it’s the holidays — time to celebrate (and drink, of course) with friends and family. We all love a glass of wine with dinner, before dinner, and after dinner, but it’s time to mix it up a bit and do something new.
Below are some creative cocktails, each including some form of wine. Test them out on a lonely night alone, or be really adventurous and give them a try at your next dinner party or holiday event. Cheers!
WineLog Approved Cocktails: Pom Royale, Sgroppino, French 75
A twist on the classic champagne cocktail, Kir Royale, the Pom Royale uses Pomegranate Juice instead of Crème de Cassis, which has a black currant flavor. The Kir Royale cocktail originated in France and is sometimes made using blackberry or peach liquor.
Ingredients for One Serving:
1 sugar cube
2 Tbsp. Pomegranate Juice
6 Tbsp. Dry Sparkling White Wine
Pomegranate Seeds (for garnish)
- Place the sugar cube in the bottom of your favorite champagne flute.
- Pour the pomegranate juice over the sugar cube.Gently pour in the sparkling wine, trying to ‘float’ the wine over the pomegranate juice in a separate layer.
- Garnish with a few pomegranate seeds and enjoy!
For a special holiday twist, try this cocktail with a sparkling rose or red wine, such as Fox Creek Vixen, a sparkling Shiraz and Cabernet Franc blend, or Albrecht Cremant Rose, a sparkling rose wine made from Pinot Noir. It’ll be extra colorful and very unexpected!
Sgroppino is an Italian cocktail made with lemon sorbet usually served to cleanse the palate between courses. A number of variations for Sgroppino exist, but the main differences are around the inclusion of Limoncello and/or Heavy Cream. Play around with the recipe until you discover your desired flavor and consistency. It is important that all of your ingredients are heavily chilled before mixing in order to prevent the sorbet from melting too quickly.
Ingredients for Four Servings:
2 Tbsp. Vodka
1 Tbsp. Limoncello
1/3 C. Lemon Sorbet (the creamier the better!)
1 C. Prosecco
Chopped Mint Leaves and Lemon Zest (for garnish)
- Add the vodka, limoncello, and sorbet to a cocktail shaker and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into a pitcher and whisk in the prosecco.
- Divide evenly into four champagne flutes and garnish with mint leaves and lemon zest.
While it may seem that champagne is always a ‘girlie’ drink, you’ll find this champagne cocktail to be anything but! Served in a classy Collins (Long Island Iced Tea) glass, the French 75 is THE classic cocktail you’ve never heard of, but will definitely enjoy.
Ingredients for One Serving:
1 shot Gin (1.5 oz.)
1 shot Lemon Juice (1.5 oz.)
2 tsp. Superfine Sugar *
3 shots Champagne or other Dry Sparkling Wine (4.5 oz.)
1 Slice Orange and 1 Maraschino Cherry (for garnish)
- Half-fill your cocktail shaker with crushed ice cubes.
- Combine gin, lemon juice, and sugar (Warning: do not include the champagne). Shake well.
- Pour mixture into Collins glass and top with the champagne.
- Garnish with orange slice and drop the maraschino cherry into the glass. Enjoy!
* Note: If you don’t have any superfine sugar, you can replace the sugar with Splenda. It measures spoon for spoon like sugar and dissolves much easier!
Subscribe by RSS
Subscribe by Email
Categories
- Announcement (48)
- Books (3)
- Bug Fix (2)
- Features (44)
- Food (21)
- Foreign Wines (12)
- Free Stuff (2)
- Fun (20)
- Gadgets (1)
- General Overview (15)
- Giveaway (2)
- Holidays (12)
- Introspection (9)
- Mobile (4)
- Movies (3)
- News and Interest (58)
- Poll (1)
- Press Release (2)
- Recipes (1)
- Red Table Wine (15)
- Restaurants (19)
- Sparkling Wine (10)
- Special Offers (30)
- Storage (4)
- Technical Issues (13)
- Television (3)
- Travel (33)
- Uncategorized (8)
- User Experience (60)
- Users (5)
- Web (28)
- Wine (112)
- Wine at Home (17)
- Wine Blogs (30)
- Wine Events (38)
- Wine Investing (3)
- Wine Marketing (11)
- Wine Merchandise (10)
- Wine Pairing (12)
- Wine Products (12)
- Wine Question (3)
- Wine Regions (37)
- Wine Review (56)
- WineLog (86)
- Wineries (39)
- Wines Under $10 (7)
Archives
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
3 Responses to “My Favorite Holiday Wine Cocktails”
Great ideas. And after all the money I spent on Christmas gifts, watering down my wine with fruit juice will help it go longer.
I wonder if we can buy cheaper wine for these drinks that we might buy to drink by itself. Although some people say you should use good, not cheap, wine for food recipes. The same might apply here.
An interesting experiment would be to taste these drinks made with a $10 vs. a $20 bottle of wine. Then taste the wines by themselves.
The wine should be at least “not yucky”, with good flavors. You aren’t looking for major complexity, but a simple and pleasant wine should suffice. Using truly yucky wine is a bad idea, just like using the cheapest tequila is a bad idea for making a decent margarita!
Your $10 & $20 experiment sounds fun - and for you a tax writeoff! Be sure to report back with the results, with photos if possible…
I’ve been drinking French 75’s for years; they’re one of my favorite cocktails. Another hint for the sugar is: You can use regular sugar just stir it with the lemon juice first. If you’re worried about calories, Splenda also makes a 50/50 baking blend that works great!
Here are two favorites that I make at Brite Bar: a Champagne Mojito and one of our signature drinks, The Shango Shag.
Champagne Mojito
2 Lime Wedges, 4 small mint leaves 1/2 tsp of sugar. Aria Cava. Gently muddle mint and sugar in the bottom of a champagne glass, squeeze lime wedges into the glass trying to get the most juice out of the wedges and then top with Cava.
I prefer to use Segura Viudas Cava it’s delicious and inexpensive. If you have a heavy base champagne glass you can gently muddle all the ingredients together.
The Shango Shag
In a shaker equal partys Shango Rum and Zygo Energy Vodka, ad a heavy splash of pineapple juice and a splash of cranberry juice shake well and strain into a martini glass and top with Cava or Champagne.
The Shango Shag can be made in a pitcher with out the champagne, let your guests shake it up and ad the champagne after they strain it. I do this for parties at home. Most guests love making fun drinks other than the usual vodka tonic.