When things start heating up, that’s when you want your drinks to cool down.
Of course, we’re all about a cold glass of wine on a hot day, but we also know sometimes folks like to mix things up. We’re big fans of the wine cocktail, ourselves – stop by our winery in Leavenworth or our Lawrence vineyard and try a wine slushie! With all due respect to Jimmy Buffet, you’re about to have a new favorite frozen concoction.
In the meantime, if you’re not able to make it down any time soon, we’ll square you away with some of our favorite wine cocktails. Impress guests or simply unwind before dinner on your own with one of these chilly aperitifs!
We’ve broken down cocktail recipes by types of wine, and suggestions for Twisted Wine substitutions of your traditional favorites!
White Wine Cocktails
What can be mixed with white wine?
It’s hard to go wrong with a good, old fashioned white wine spritzer. A spritzer is a mixed drink that combines (typically) white wine with carbonated water. You can use tonic water, club soda, or even your favorite sparkling seltzer water!
Here are a couple spritzer recipes. We recommend using local or homegrown ingredients wherever possible!
Lemon, Ginger, and Rosemary White Wine Spritzer
Courtesy of The Home Cook’s Kitchen
For this one, you’ll need a light, semi-dry white wine. A traditional pick might be Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris. Add a Twist with our Vignoles semi-dry white wine made with local Kansas grapes!
Ingredients
- Light dry or semi-dry white wine
- Club soda, seltzer water, sparkling mineral water, or tonic water
- Finely grated fresh ginger
- Lemon juice from 1 lemon
- Rosemary sprigs
- Simple syrup (you can make your own with ¼ water and ¼ sugar, heating on a stove until the sugar is melted and allowing to cool for at least 10 minutes)
Put ice in your glass, followed by a cup of white wine. Next, add 3 tsp simple syrup, 1 tsp ginger, and a squeeze of lemon. Pour your sparkling water of choice on last, then serve with a sprig of rosemary for garnish.
Stone Fruit White Wine Spritzer
Courtesy of Crumb Top Baking
If you’re looking for something quicker and easier, this white wine spritzer is a little less labor intensive. However, it’s still fancy enough that it will look like you really tried!
It’s up to you how sweet or dry you want to go with this one. Of course, you can go with something light and semi-sweet or semi-dry. On the other hand, depending on the type of fruit and sparkling water you’re using, you might want to go with something sweeter.
Looking for a sweet Twist? We recommend our Seasons of Aspen Riesling.
Ingredients
- Ice
- Summer fruit of your choice (berries, peaches, cherries, etc.)
- White wine
- Tonic water, seltzer, club soda
Fill a glass about halfway with ice. Top with the summer fruit. Then, pour over it 3 oz of wine and 1 oz of your sparkling water of choice.
Enjoy!
Z&M Summer Sangria
Adapted from Cosmopolitan’s Sauvignon Blanc Summer Sangria
The original recipe calls for lemonade, tropical fruit juice, and vodka. Why not add a Twist? We’ll show you our suggestions in the ingredients list below.
Ingredients
- 1 bottle Sauvignon Blanc (Twisted substitute: Harvest Moon or Vignoles)
- ¾ C. Vodka
- ½ C. tropical fruit juice (Twisted substitute: Twisted Kiss Pineapple Wine)
- 6 tbs. thawed frozen lemonade concentrate (Twisted substitute: Country Lemonade)
- 2 T. sugar
- Fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries–6 oz. each
- 2 C. sparkling water
Mix them all together for a delicious summer punch!
Red Wine Cocktails
If you’re looking to mix up something a little different for your next summer get-together, we’ve got the red wine cocktail recipes.
No time to make something? Take a bottle of Household 6 Sangria off the shelf and serve it up. Made with grape, apple, cherry, and blueberry, it’s got the fruity flavors we associate with this classic summer drink. Garnish with orange slices to complete the effect!
Now, for some red wine cocktail recipes.
New York Sours
Courtesy of A Couple Cooks
We love this one because it’s a Twist on the classic Whiskey Sour!
Ingredients
- Whiskey (preferably bourbon)
- Lemon juice
- Simple syrup (consider using maple syrup)
- Red wine (pick something with a fruity acidity; we suggest our St. Vincent red wine)
Strain the whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup into a glass after shaking it in a cocktail shaker until cold.
The next part is a little nuanced:
Right over the top of the glass, hold the back of the spoon while gently pouring the red wine onto the spoon into the glass. The wine will hit the spoon first and should settle into a layer on top of the shaken whiskey, juice, and syrup.
Twisted Frosé
Courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats
Remember that simple syrup recipe from earlier? Add a cup of chopped strawberries and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Strain it and in the morning you’ll have strawberry simple syrup for your Twisted Frosé!
Ingredients
- Strawberry simple syrup
- 1 bottle rosé (Twisted substitute: Rosie Bottoms blush wine)
- ¼ C. vodka
Freeze the wine in a gallon bag in a dish overnight. It may be a little slushy, which is perfect. Put it in a blender with the strawberry simple syrup to taste together with the vodka and serve immediately for a delicious summer treat!
This recipe is pretty boozy, and so is Rosie Bottoms, so if you go with our Twisted substitute, you might want to leave out the vodka in this case!
Stop by for a Slushie!
Sometimes when it’s hot, the last thing you feel like doing is making your own stuff. We get it. The good news is, we’re usually serving up something frozen and Twisted.
Come see us at our winery in Leavenworth for a tasting or to order a wine slushy. Looking for a winery in Lawrence? We’ve got a vineyard out there–join us for a slushie!