ON THE GRAPEVINE
BY SAM WYLIE HARRIS
There’s something stylish about a spritz. Even the name sounds a bit glitz and fizzing with summer vibes. Here are three to try.
The Hugo: This youngster in the spritz canon is a lime-juice-enhanced riff on the original created in 2005 by bartender Roland ‘AK’ Gruber in Italy’s South Tyrol region.
Ingredients: 60ml St Germain Elderflower Liqueur, 7ml fresh lime juice, 90ml prosecco, chilled, 30ml elderflower tonic water. 2 mint sprigs and 2 lime wheels for garnish.
Method: Muddle leaves of 1 mint sprig in a sturdy wineglass. Fill three-quarters full with ice and pour the St Germain, lime juice, and prosecco over the ice. Top with the elderflower tonic. Gently stir. Garnish with the remaining mint sprig and tuck the lime wheels between the ice and the side of the glass.
Blueberry Lemonade Spritz: If you can’t resist the yin and yang of tart lemons and sweet blueberries, you’ll love this adorably pinky purple spritz.
Ingredients: 35g fresh blueberries, 2 thyme sprigs, 30ml fresh lemon juice, 30ml simple syrup, 90ml prosecco, chilled, 30ml elderflower tonic. Skewered blueberries, for garnish.
Method: In a sturdy wineglass, muddle the blueberries and one thyme sprig. Fill three-quarters full with ice and stir. Pour the lemon juice, simple syrup, and prosecco over the ice and top with elderflower tonic. Gently stir and garnish with the remaining thyme and skewer of blueberries.
The Starburst: As long as you like orange flavours, you’ll love this spritz.
The blood orange soda makes it super juicy and downplays the bitterness of the Aperol. If you can handle a bit more bite, use Campari instead of Aperol.
Ingredients: 60ml Aperol or Campari, 60ml Sanpellegrino Aranciata or Aranciata Rossa orange soda, 60ml prosecco, chilled. Blood orange wheel for garnish.
Method: Three-quarters fill a wineglass with ice. Pour in Aperol, orange soda, and prosecco. Gently stir, then tuck the orange wheel between the ice and the side of the glass.
■ Extracted from Just a Spritz: 57 Simple Sparkling Sips with Low to No Alcohol, by Danielle Centoni, photography by Eric Medsker, Artisan Books, £12.99