What is summer without fun and interesting activities to complement the sunshine? If you’ve ever thought of dabbling in mixology, or even just fantasized about cooling down with a refreshing cocktail, there’s no better time. Channel your inner bartender with these cocktail recipes that feature luscious fruit flavors you can find in season at your local market.
STEP 1: Select Your Sparkling Base
The grapes used in sparkling (primarily Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Chardonnay) contain compounds that give off fruit flavors. This makes most sparkling wines the perfect match for fresh, fruity, summer cocktails.
TIP: Ensuring your cocktail is refreshing is key to making it worthy of enjoying in warm weather. Don’t forget to cool your sparkling to the ideal temperature by storing it in the fridge, or placing it in an ice bucket 20 minutes before mixing your cocktail.
STEP 2: Select Your Favorite In-Season Fruit
The best way to entice summertime nostalgia is to evoke the familiar fruit flavors and aromas you’ve grown to enjoy during this time of year, whether in the form of whole fruits or juices.
TIP: For inspiration, visit your local farmer’s market to see all of the fresh fruit varieties summertime can offer.
STEP 3: Add A Touch of Sweet
From enjoying popsicles in the shade to your mom’s famous strawberry shortcake, summer has always lent itself to sweet flavors. As it so happens, sweetness is the perfect complement to the marked acidity that’s characteristic to sparkling wine.
The perceived sweetness in many sparkling wines is often misidentified as what is actually fruitiness. That’s why an added touch of sweet can bring more depth to your sparkling cocktail.
STEP 4: Finish it With a Twist
Finishing touches such as spices, herbs, and garnishes of the like or fruit can add additional interest to the cocktail.
Have you ever heard the expression, “taste with your eyes?" Don’t underestimate the visual allure that primes the brain to perceive your cocktail as fresh and delicious.
Ready to Try for Yourself?
- 4 oz Chandon Brut
- 8 Grapes
- 1 oz Grapefruit Juice
- 1 tsp Agave Nectar
- 1/2 tsp Grated Cinnamon
- Garnish with Some Grapes
- 3 oz Chandon Brut Rosé
- 4 Large Chunks of Watermelon or 3 oz Watermelon Puree
- 1/2 oz Lime Juice or Juice of 1/2 Lime
- 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
- 5 Mint Leaves
- Garnish with Mint Leaf and Watermelon
- 4 oz Chandon Brut Rosé
- 3 Slices English Cucumber
- 1 Strawberry
- 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
- 3/4 oz Honey Syrup
- 1 Lemon Twist Garnish
- 1 Strawberry Garnish
- 1 Cucumber Slice Garnish
- 3 oz Chandon Brut
- 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
- 1 oz Peach Juice
- 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
- 2 oz Brewed and Chilled chamomile Tea
Here are some seasonal recipes to get you started.
Grape and Grapefruit
Add grapes and agave to a cocktail shaker. Muddle to release the juices. Add grapefruit juice, grated cinnamon, and ice. Shake. Strain mixture into a wine glass over fresh ice. Top off with Chandon Brut. Granish with grapes.
Watermelon Spritz
Add watermelon (or puree) and mint to a cocktail shaker.Muddle to release the juices and mint oil. Add lime juice, simple syrup, and ice. Shake.Strain mixture into the wine glass over fresh ice.Top off with Chandon Brut Rosé. Garnish with a slice of watermelon and a sprig of mint.
Summer Spritz
Combine 3 of the cucumber slices and 1 of the strawberries in a cocktail shaker and muddle until they have released most of their juices.Add the honey, lemon juice, ice, and shake.Fine strain into a wine glass with ice and top with 4 oz Chandon Brut Rosé. Garnish with the remaining cucumber slice, the other strawberry, and the lemon twist.
Peach Tea Cooler
Brew 2 bags of chamomile tea in about 4 oz hot water.Let steep and cool. Remove the tea bags.In a shaker, combine the lemon juice, honey syrup, tea, and peach juice. Add 3 ice cube.Strain into a cocktail glass and top with Chandon Brut
