Barely a cocktail, and yet too important to overlook, the Spritzer is the grandmother of wine cocktails from the Tinto de Verano to the Aperol Spritz.
Stories of its origin are murky, placing its birth in Austria, or Germany (where it’s called Schorle), or Hungary (where they call it fröccs) – but always in the mid-1800s, when carbonated water was the new hotness.
There’s a lot of room for flexibility in this classic template. Swap in a rosé wine for the default white, pair it with a flavored sparkling water, or increase the sweetness by lemon-lime soda or ginger ale. The citrus garnish is a must-have, but even that offers choices: a sweet rosé goes well with a slice of orange, while a dry white wine might go better with a wedge of lime.
