Tag Archives: Sparkling Wine

Wild Strawberry Moscato White Wine Sangria

Posted on May 9, 2013 | Leave a comment

The best sangria recipe begins in the most basic form. A few simple ingredients; bottle of wine, small amount of liquor, fresh seasonal fruits and a little time. – recipe and photo by Mixologist Cheri Loughlin, The Intoxicologist

Red Sangria is one of the most popular Spanish cocktails with White Wine Sangria (Sangria Blanca) running a close second. Sangria is a wine based punch most likely to have originated in Spain. Sangria first appeared in the United States in 1964. As its popularity has increased, so have the numerous ways the Sangria recipe has been adapted.

How to Make a Basic Red or White Wine Sangria Recipe

The best sangria recipe begins in the most basic form. One liter of wine (red or white), 1 cup of sliced fresh fruit (any combination of citrus, berries and tropical fruits), 2 to 4 ounces Liquor (usually Brandy or Cognac) and 1/2 to 1 ounce sweetener (sugar or simple syrup). Place all ingredients in sealed container for 4 hours minimum to overnight, allowing sliced fresh fruits to marinate. Serve in large rocks glass with club soda or sparkling wine topper. Garnish options include fresh herbs or additional fresh fruit slices and whole berries.

With the basic sangria recipe as starting point it is easy to adapt the recipe to seasonal ingredients and fresh fruits you already have on hand.

Wild Strawberry Sangria Recipe

Wild Strawberry Moscato White Wine Sangria recipe was created using an easy basic Sangria recipe to start and fresh quality ingredients from my kitchen – recipe and photo by Mixologist Cheri Loughlin, The Intoxicologist

The Wild Strawberry Sangria recipe is perfect for spring and summer entertaining. The recipe uses Moscato White Wine as base with fresh strawberries, blackberries and cherries. It is lively and fresh, light and airy and beautiful in color. The taste is definitely spectacular! Almost too spectacular. The Wild Strawberry Sangria recipe is so easy to sip, it disappears as quickly and easily as it put together.

May 9, 2013 marks the second annual National Moscato Day. National Moscato Day was established by Gallo Family Vineyards. Make a fresh and easy Moscato White Wine Sangria to capture the excitement of National Moscato Day. Then sit back, relax and join Gallo Family Vineyards in a very special Moscato wine-themed Twitter party for hosting tips, wine and food pairing ideas and wine facts. Follow the hashtag #MoscatoDay and @GalloFamily on Twitter

Wild Strawberry Sangria – recipe by Cheri Loughlin, The Intoxicologist

1-750ml Bottle Moscato White Wine

4 ounces Brandy

1 ounce Simple Syrup

6 large Strawberries – hulled & quartered

15 Fresh Whole Blackberries

1/2 cup Fresh Cherries – pitted & cut in half

1/2 Fresh Lemon – cut in slices

Place cut fruit in bottom of pitcher. Add wine, brandy and simple syrup. Stir gently. Cover. Chill 4 hours or overnight. Serve over ice. Club soda or sparkling wine optional as topper optional.

What is the Best White Wine for Sangria Recipes?

There are many Moscato white wines that would work rather nicely with the Wild Strawberry Sangria recipe above. Use the one that you are most familiar with and prefer. I used a Moscato white wine I am familiar with it and thought it would pair nicely with the recipe I was developing due to the flavor profile. It is pleasantly sweet with sumptuous fruit aromas. Citrus fruit dances across the tongue with plump, juicy splashes of nectar fruit. The finish is lively and crisp making it ideal for a lovely spring to summer sangria.

An important point to remember when choosing any wine as Sangria recipe base is it should be a wine you already enjoy. If it doesn’t taste good in the glass by itself, it probably shouldn’t be the starter component in your Sangria recipe.

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Posted in Pichers & Punches

Tagged Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Basic Sangria Recipe, Blackberries, Brandy, Cherries, Club Soda, Fresh Lemon, Moscato Spumante, National Moscato Day, Sangria, Simple Syrup, Spanish Cocktails, Sparkling Wine, Strawberries, Wild Strawberry Sangria

4 Champagne & Orange Juice Cocktails

Posted on February 7, 2013 | Comments Off

A Buck’s Fizz by any other name is what most Americans know as a Mimosa. This Sunday brunch staple may well be the most commonly known Champagne cocktail. The Buck’s Fizz or Mimosa is a simply elegant cocktail which turns an ordinary breakfast into an invitation for leisurely conversation.

The Buck’s Fizz originated in 1921 with barman, Pat McGarry, the first bartender of the famous Buck’s Club in London. McGarry is also the recognized creator of the original Sidecar cocktail. Captain H. J. Buckmaster established the Buck’s Club in 1919. He wanted an American Cocktail Bar rather than the stuffy traditional gentlemen’s clubs in existence at the time. He must have hit upon something, because the Buck’s Club made its way into contemporary fiction writing and has hit Hollywood’s big screen.

With only two ingredients, Champagne and orange juice, the Buck’s Fizz is an easy preparation. A Buck’s Fizz is heavier on orange juice than the Mimosa version that followed a few short years later, making its appearance at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1925. Both are very similar, the difference being only in the ratios of Champagne to orange juice. If Champagne is not available or desired, sparkling wine or Prosecco may be used. Fresh orange juice is always a plus, but is not absolutely necessary to make either of these cocktails a winning combination.

Buck’s Fizz

4 ounces Orange Juice

2 ounces Champagne

Pour chilled orange juice in chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne. Garnish with float of grenadine and maraschino cherry if desired.

Mimosa

2 ounces Orange Juice

4 ounces Champagne

Pour chilled orange juice in chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne. Garnish with float of grenadine and maraschino cherry if desired.

Barman Frank Meier or the Ritz Bar created an alternate version to the Mimosa calling it a Valencia.

Valencia

1 ounce Orange Juice

1/2 ounce Apricot Liqueur

5 ounces Champagne

Orange Spiral Garnish

Pour chilled orange juice and apricot liqueur in chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne. Garnish with orange spiral.

Yet another version of this ever popular cocktail is the French Mimosa using Grand Marnier. Cointreau or other Premium Orange Liqueur may be used as a substitute as well.

French Mimosa

1 ounce Orange Juice

1/2 ounce Premium Orange Liqueur

5 ounces Champagne

Orange Spiral Garnish

Orange Bitters – optional

Place chilled orange juice and orange liqueur in chilled champagne flute. Add orange bitters if desired. Top with champagne. Garnish with orange spiral.

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Posted in Champagne & Bubbly

Tagged Apricot Liqueur, Brunch, Buck's Club, Buck's Fizz, Captain H. J. Buckmaster, Champagne, Cointreau, French Mimosa, Grand Marnier, Grenadine, Mimosa, Orange Bitters, Orange Juice, Pat McGarry, Premium Orange Liqueur, Prosecco, Ritz Hotel, Sparkling Wine, Valencia

Review: DonQ Pasion Rum

Posted on November 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

Puerto Rican Rum with Natural Passionfruit Flavors

60 Proof / 30% alcohol

Suggested Retail Price: $12 to $15 range

Availability: United States offices opened in June 2009 with the purpose of increasing availability to all fifty states. DonQ Pasion Rum has limited availability in US at this time.

Tasting Notes

Color: Mostly clear with just barely there tinge of ecru w/ very light peach. Not perfectly clear.

Aroma: Detect a bit of alcohol on the nose, but no burn. Passionfruit inclusion is barely there if at all. Fruit is extremely faint.

Tasted Neat: Light sweetness. Toasted type sweetness. Burn. Passionfruit is again very light. I do like the unusual sweetness with its mix of burnt sugar, roasted fruit feel. More fruit comes through in third to fourth sip. Not liking the after taste neat, but this is not a flavor that is meant to be sipped neat. It’s meant to be paired with favorite mixers.

Mouth Feel: Upper end of light.

Possible Uses, Pairings and / or Cocktails: Variation on classic Cosmo comes to mind first, using Passionfruit Rum version. Might also go well with orange juice with squeeze of lemon. Possibly Sprite topper.

Holiday Highball

2 ounces DonQ Pasion Rum

1/2 ounce DonQ Anejo Rum

1 ounce Passion Fruit Juice

1/2 ounce Simple Syrup

Sparkling Wine

Mint Sprig & Lemon Wheel Garnish

Combine rums, juice and simple syrup in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to blend & chill. Strain into highball glass over fresh ice. Top with splash of sparkling wine. Garnish with mint sprig and lemon wheel.

Pasion Madras

1-1/2 ounce DonQ Pasion Rum

1-1/2 ounce Orange Juice

4 ounces Cranberry Juice

Orange Slice Garnish

Build in highball glass over fresh ice. Garnish with orange slice.

Find more DonQ Rum Reviews & Cocktails on this site by following the link.

Review sample courtesy representatives of DonQ Rum

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Posted in Christmas Cocktails, Reviews

Tagged Christmas, Cranberry Juice, DonQ Pasion Rum, DonQ Rum, Holiday, Holiday Highball, Madras, Orange Juice, Pasion Madras, Passion Fruit Juice, Passionfruit Rum, Rum, Simple Syrup, Sparkling Wine

Cinnamon Toast

Posted on November 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

This tastes a bit like buttered cinnamon toast. Apple is quite faint, but just tickles the senses enough to give fresh baked apple pie crust sensation. Like pie crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Optional cinnamon and sugar rim dresses this cocktail for holiday celebrations.

Cinnamon Toast – created by Cheri Loughlin

1-1/2 ounce Apple Juice

1/2 ounce Clear Cinnamon Schnapps

2 ounces Sparkling Moscato Spumante

Apple Slice Garnish or Cinnamon & Sugar Rim – optional

Combine apple juice and cinnamon liqueur in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake to blend and chill. Strain into cinnamon and sugar rimmed champagne flute. Top with Sparkling Moscato Spumante.

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Posted in Champagne & Bubbly, Fall & Thanksgiving

Tagged Apple Juice, Cinnamon Schnapps, Cinnamon Toast, Mosacato Spumante, Sparkling Wine

Kir Royale

Posted on July 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

It is a shame that champagne seems to only make an appearance at special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, birthday brunches, and New Years Eve. This particular effervescent beverage rises above all others on cocktail menus and wine lists. This may be due in part to the celebratory nature of its existence or the underlying impression that only expensive champagne or sparkling wine is worth partaking of. Not so. Imagine the opportunities wasting away that could be had sipping on a bit of the bubbly while experimenting with exciting flavors of liqueurs.

The Kir Royale for instance not only allows our taste buds the joyous fizzy bubbles, but also a walk on the wild side with the seldom used Cassis liqueur. Cassis is a liqueur made from the tart blackcurrant berries. These tiny berries are miniature pinkish red clusters that appear almost translucent. Once the blackcurrants are refined into liqueur, the liquid takes on a lush, deep purplish hue to match its rich flavor. While blackcurrant berries are tart, the Cassis liqueur is a sharp sort of sweet that is neither syrupy, nor bitter.

The Kir Royale needs just two ingredients, Champagne or sparkling wine and Cassis liqueur. While an expensive bottle of authentic Champagne would indeed make this an exquisite cocktail, it is completely unnecessary. The liqueur added to the Champagne breaks down the complexities a high quality Champagne has to offer. The real reason to spend a great deal of money on a bottle of Champagne is to savor every drop of flavor from the Champagne itself, not to mix it with a liqueur.

An inexpensive Champagne or sparkling wine is the way to go for the Kir Royale and many other Champagne cocktails. Since liqueurs have higher sugar content, Brut Champagne with its drier complexities helps balance the sweetness for a more satisfying cocktail. Save the expensive champagnes for the extraordinary occasions, but bring out a bit of the bubbly for the everyday celebrations that make life festive each day.

Kir Royale

Champagne

1/4 ounce Cassis Liqueur

Lemon peel for garnish

Pour the Cassis Liqueur into a champagne glass and fill with champagne. Garnish with a lemon peel.

The classic Kir is basically an identical cocktail to the Kir Royale. White wine is used in place of Champagne in the Kir. In France it has become commonplace for waiters to offer the choice of blackcurrant, blackberry, or peach liqueurs when ordering a Kir. A Kir Royale becomes a Kir Imperial when Mathilde Framboise (raspberry) is substituted for Cassis. Try any of these for a pleasant new twist on a classic favorite.