Wine cocktails are always a fun addition to your wine drinking repertoire. There’s a easy wine cocktail for every wine; red, white, sparkling, and sherry. Do you have leftover wine? Wine cocktails are also a great way to use up leftover wine before it goes bad. Truthfully, having a few easy wine cocktail recipes up your sleeve is a great way to salvage a shitty bottle of wine, too. Red wine sucks? Add Coke to it. What? It’s fancier if you call it a kalimotxo and if it’s good enough for the Spaniards, it’s good enough for me.
Since we’re being honest, is there anything better for a hangover than a mimosa? I think not! When the heart burn is too much for OJ, I make a bellini. Whenever I’m making Champagne based cocktails, I’m never using Champagne; it feels like a waste. The best sparkling wine for mimosas is Prosecco. It’s much cheaper than Champagne and does the job.
Wine cocktails are versatile and adjustable. The best red wine for sangria is the cheapest wine that you’ve got. You’re adding so much to it, you’re not tasting the nuances in the wine. Not just for sangria, rarely do you need a specific wine variety. Work with the wines you have laying around. Maybe this isn’t the most professional advice, but it’s true.
Classic Sangria
Everyone loves sangria. It’s the perfect summer cocktail for parties. You can make a huge pitcher ahead of time and greet guests as they come over with a colorful glass of sangria. Sangria originates in the Iberian peninsula, so Spain and Portugal. It can be 4 ingredients or up to ten! It’s versatile where you can use what you have on hand or make small variations until you find your favorite one. Get the recipe here!
White Wine Sangria
You would think that white wine sangria was the same as red wine sangria but just switching out white for red. Well, you would be wrong, lol. This white wine sangria recipe is pretty spectacular. It’s a great summer cocktail and it’s not too high in alcohol so you can definitely drink it during the day. It is similar to red wine sangria in that you can switch out the fruit for whatever you have on hand. Get the recipe here.
Kalimotxo AKA Rioja Libre
This is a lazy person’s ultimate wine cocktail. Coca-cola and red wine, lemon optional. DONE! If you’re a cool kid in Spain, this is what you’re drinking. How do you pronounce that word anyway? The tx sound in Basque is pronounced CH so it’s Ca-lee-mo-cho. Get the recipe here.
New York Sour
Is the New York Sour not the prettiest cocktail ever? This is a combination of whiskey and red wine. It’s not hard to float the red wine on top, I promise, you just need a spoon and to pour slowly. Get the recipe here.
Rosé Spritzer
Easiest cocktail, ever! Rosé wine and something with bubbles. My preferences lean sparkling water but if you want a sweeter cocktail, Sprite or ginger ale works great. Full recipe, if you can even call it that, is here.
Classic Mimosa
The best hangover cure is definitely the mimosa. Also, have you ever noticed how well the sparkling wine and the acidity in the OJ cut through bacon at brunch? I’m just saying. I’ve included 10 modifications to step up your brunch game. Get the full recipe here.
Peach Bellini
Peach Bellinis are sparkling wine and peach puree. Peach puree is kind of a pain but I promise it’s worth the effort. If you’re really lazy about it, peach juice or Amita Motion works fine, too. You can even buy pouches of Bellini mix and it’s actually pretty good. Get the recipe here.
Kir Royale
Oh you think you’re fancy? But are you drinking Kir Royales? Champagne cocktails are a guilty pleasure of mine. But I’ll tell you a little secret, I don’t usually use Champagne. I prefer to use a less expensive Traditional Method sparkling wine. The Kir Royale also has a cool Nazi-hating history. Get the scoop and the recipe here.
French 75
The sexiest wine cocktail is definitely the French 75. Get the full recipe here.
Sherry Cobbler
This is a wine cocktail for classic cocktail lovers. The sherry cobbler goes back almost 200 years. Sherry used to be the most fashionable drink but fell out of favor. If you enjoy the nutty, oxidative quality of sherry, this is the cocktail for you. Full recipe here.
Big thank you to Mike Koulikas for all your help in developing these recipes.