Carolyn Fath
Bicyclette with white wine and Campari, from Maduro.
The 12th annual Tales of the Cocktail happened in New Orleans last week, and a number of Madison bartenders and beverage professionals made the trek to the Big Easy to attend seminars, volunteer at events, hobnob, and generally contribute to the mayhem that occurs when 40,000 alcohol industry folks descend upon a single city.
It was an ideal time for me to reflect on -- and hunt down -- wine cocktails, that niche genre largely reviled by both cocktailians (too frou frou) and wine snobs (adulteration!).
But the blend of wine and spirits need not be contentious. After all, many cocktails sport vermouth, which is fortified wine aromatized with herbs. So what's the issue with using table wine or bubbly to make a drink?
For wine geeks, the hang-up is that good wine needs no complement. And it's true, you likely don't want to use Dom Perignon to make an Aperol Spritz. But many mid-level wines make for great cocktails. And the genre-bending combination of wine and spirits is part of the good life all over the world -- perfect afternoon accompaniments to light snacks and conversation. One could even say that wine cocktails have a civilizing effect on a culture, as they are relatively low in alcohol and high on pairability with nosh.
The ur-cocktail of the genre, the champagne cocktail, sports a sugar cube, Angostura, bubbly and a lemon twist for a refreshing fascinator that gives a little extra oomph and sweetness to a bottle. It's a glamorous drink that works to showcase -- well, let's be honest, it livens up less expensive champers.
For cool kids, the Bicylette is a combo of Campari and white wine. You'll want something dry for the vino, and if you're not too into bitter as a flavor, you'll want to use about an ounce of the Campari. Otherwise, the drink is usually made with two ounces, and about an equal part wine. Some drinkers also like it with a splash of club soda to calm it down.
Hemingway was an inveterate wine cocktail drinker; his particular poison he dubbed Death in the Afternoon. It's champagne and absinthe, which he recommended consumed four at a go after lunch. When you drink a few of these in New Orleans in the sweltering July humidity, the minty absinthe creates a remarkably cooling quaffer. And it's a cocktail that will have you telling your own tales.
