National Wine Day: Here’s a List of the 5 Best Wine Cocktails Ever!

What’s a great way to celebrate National Wine Day?

With the pandemic in full swing, mixing wine cocktails would be the best way to go about it! Choose a wine from each category—red, white, rosé, sparkling— channel the spirit of a true mixologist, and embark on a journey to stimulate your senses.

Fruity Sangria, classic mimosa, or the uber-modish Unconventional Love - enjoy sipping on these dainties as you cook up a light brunch or dinner to celebrate 25th of May.

Check out our recommendations for the most popular cocktails to make with wine on National Wine Day!

1. Sangria

Sangria took off in America only in the 1940s when it debuted as a part of the Spanish pavilion in the World’s Fair in New York. Crimson and fruity, the cocktail achieved its present formula after much experimentation in the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. Rioja, Garnacha, Syrah, Pinot Noir are some of the reds you can throw into the milieu to make this sangria.

Use in-season fruits like orange, berries, pears, or peaches to create the perfect fruity punch. This recipe serves 6-8 servings.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sugar
• Wedges of 1 orange
• 1 apple, cored and diced
• Wedges of 1 lemon
• 3 limes cut into slices
• Handful of cherries
• 2 peaches cut into slices
• 1 pint of strawberries cut into slices
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 bottle dry red wine (like Rioja)
• Garnish: orange wheel

Steps

• In a large bowl or pitcher, add all the chopped fruits and sugar and muddle.
• Add brandy along with the orange juice and muddle once more.
• Empty the whole bottle of red wine and stir to mix thoroughly.
• Serve in a wine glass with ice.
• Garnish with an orange wheel.

2. Kalimotxo

The simplest red wine cocktail that you can make at home on this day has got to be this highly popular Coke and red wine mix. Kalimotxo, pronounced as Cali-mo-cho, originated in the Basque region of Spain in the 1920s, when revelers discovered that there was something off with the red wine and drowned it in Coke to cover up!

This accident that led to the creation of this sweet wine cocktail didn’t change the landscape but gently carved out a niche.

Ingredients

• 3 oz Rioja wine
• 3 oz Coca-cola
• A dash of lemon
• Garnish with a lemon wedge
• Ice

Steps

• Pour all the ingredients into a wine or rock glass and stir until thoroughly mixed.
• Add ice.
• Garnish with a lemon wedge.

3. Mimosa

You cannot do brunch without a mimosa, can you?

It’s become such a classic pairing with eggs and avocado toast that it’s hard to think of a time when we didn’t do it. Close compatriot of the Screwdriver and Bloody Mary, the drink is refreshing, light, and delectable. It’s got only two ingredients, freshly squeezed orange juice and any white wine like Cava or Prosecco.

Credit to movie-making genius Alfred Hitchcock for popularizing the mimosa in America and setting this cocktail off on the road to its present popularity.

Ingredients

• 2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
• Chilled white/sparkling wine for topping up

Steps

• Pour the orange juice into a Champagne flute glass.
• Top it with sparkling wine to the brim.

4. White Wine Mojito

Mojito is the Cuban highball favorite with the ordinary American. Just swap the rum for white wine, and you’ve got yourself a fancy-schmancy drink for lunch and afternoon. The white wine adds a taste upgrade, keeping the rest of the recipe the same.

You can choose between Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, or Pinot Grigio as the white wine representative for this mojito and enjoy a clean, refreshing drink with none of the rummy sweetness. This recipe serves 6-8, so scale down accordingly.

Ingredients

• 1 bottle (around 750 ml) of White Wine (e.g. Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, or Pinot Grigio)
• 2 cups lemonade
• Juice of 2 limes (freshly squeezed)
• 1 lime for garnish
• 1 cup fresh mint
• Sugar to taste
• Ice cubes

Steps

• Put the white wine and lemonade in the refrigerator to chill.
• In a large pitcher, mix the white wine and lemonade. Add the juice of two limes to the pitcher.
• Chop ¾ cup of the fresh mint and add just before serving; otherwise, they will brown.
• Taste; add sugar if you feel the mixture is too tart.
• Mix and pour into rocks glasses.
• Garnish with thinly sliced limes and add mint leaves.
• Serve over ice cubes.

5. Unconventional Love

Invented by an NYC bartender, the rosé wine used here is from Moët & Chandon. Raspberries, vodka, coconut cream are some of the other easily available ingredients required to make this cocktail and celebrate National Wine Day in style!

Ingredients

• 5 raspberries
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 2 tsp coconut cream
• 3 oz Moët Rosé Imperial
• 1 oz vodka
• Freshly grated nutmeg to garnish
• Grated nutmeg and Raspberries, to garnish
• Ice

Steps

• Muddle the raspberries.
• Add all the ingredients except the rosé into a shaker with ice and mix vigorously.
• Add Moët Rosé Imperial to the shaker and pour into a rocks glass.
• Add ice.
• Garnish with nutmeg and raspberries.

Nobody knows when National Wine Day started, but references to it are made as late as 2009. We should’ve done it sooner, we think! It’s the perfect day to mix up some sangria and the other delicious cocktails that we mentioned above.

If the pandemic doesn’t let you explore American wine country, then do the second-best thing. Explore wines online with Liquor Wine Time and read through our stunning blog collection for ideas on how to make most of a perfectly good day.

Reds, whites, sparkling, and rosé, take your pick from this family of fermented grape juice. It’s a good time to be an adult and do some adulting.

Salut!

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