Aperol Spritz
90 ml Sparkling wine, 60 ml Aperol, 30 ml Soda water, 1 Orange slice, 1 large cube Ice
Mimosa
Sparkling wine and orange juice, the easiest celebration there is.
Sparkling
Easy
2 min
Photo: Mimosa at Station House Cafe - March 2022 - Sarah Stierch by Missvain · CC BY 4.0 · All credits
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 6 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 450 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 450 ml line. Sparkling wine - Something dry - prosecco, cava or a crisp champagne
- 450 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 450 ml line. Orange juice - Freshly squeezed, with the pulp strained out
- 6 twists Orange twist (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Juice in the glass, wine on top, stir once and drink it now.
Method
Pitcher (6 drinks)Pitcher (6 drinks) - about 900 ml of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Chill both the wine and the juice properly - this drink has no ice to hide behind.
- Pour the orange juice into a chilled flute, filling it about half.
- Top up slowly with the sparkling wine, tilting the glass so it keeps its fizz.
- Stir once with a bar spoon, twist a strip of orange peel over the top and drop it in.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Mimosa
Invented, so the story goes, at the Ritz in Paris in the 1920s - where it was first made with the local white wine and a splash of orange liqueur, until somebody discovered that champagne worked better and made a habit of it. It spread through American brunches and never really left, which is a compliment: nobody invents a drink that good and keeps it to themselves.
Getting it right
Equal parts is the classic proportion and it wants a dry wine, because the juice is sweet enough for both of them. Everything must be cold: a mimosa has no ice in it, so any warmth in the bottle ends up in the glass. Pour the juice first and the wine second, down the side of a tilted flute, and you will keep far more of the bubbles than if you pour it straight in. Two parts wine to one part juice makes a drier, sharper drink - good with breakfast, dangerous at lunchtime.
Tasting notes
Crisp citrus with a fine, persistent fizz and a dry finish from the wine. It is barely a cocktail and entirely a pleasure.
For a Buck's Fizz, use two parts juice to one part wine and tell everyone that is the original
- in Britain, it broadly is.
More Sparkling wine cocktails
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100 ml Sparkling wine, 50 ml Peach purée, 1 slice Peach
Kir Royale
15 ml Crème de cassis, 120 ml Champagne, 1 Blackberry