Wine Cocktails: Becoming Your Own Mixologist

Wine Cocktails

Time to MAN UP

Whether you’re into the vino, or into the booze, you can get your high-society drink on in a big way with wine cocktails. No ordinary hooch, wine cocktails expand far beyond the sangria and mimosas you’re used to on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings.

Author A.J. Rathbun has devoted one of his many beverage books to the fine art of wine cocktails, and he calls it, appropriately, Wine Cocktails: 50 Stylish Sippers that Show Off Your Reds, Whites, and Rosés. What else would you call a ninety-six page tome full of salavacious libations featuring wine as the main ingredient?

Do-it-yourselfers can bring out both their inner mixologist and oenophile by following fifty recipes for cool wine cocktails at home. From the very simple “Kitty Highball” (claret, ginger ale, ice cubes and lemon garnish) to the more complex “Blue Wave” (apple slices, orange slices, kiwi slices, ice cubes, Hpnotiq, white wine, orange juice, green grapes and ginger ale), all of these recipes are pretty easy and fun to make. Not only that, but you’ll learn a little about the history of many of these drinks, explanations of their names, and helpful hints about ingredient selections and preparation in a fun, entertaining way.

Beverage photographer Melissa Punch (who, rumor has it, doesn’t drink) delivers stunning images of these sweet libations, making it difficult to decide what to try first. Nearly all of these drinks are served cold, and just flipping through the images makes even the most ardent wine-drinker long for just such summer spirits.

Rathbun insists that making and consuming these cocktails is not only fun, but even more fun with friends. He says, “So get on the phone, call up some pals, and start shaking and stirring the wine cocktails. And if the list includes any snooty oenophiles who shake their head at the phrase ‘wine cocktail,’ just do whatever it takes to get them to take that first sip, and watch their frowns turn into happy grins.”

A.J. Rathbun will be demonstrating several of these cocktails at Poco Wine Room on August 20 and autographing the book that you’ll get with the price of admission. You can watch him mix, get information about ingredients, learn helpful preparation tips and sample these clever concoctions in one fell swoop. Check
out pocowineroom.com for details.