Clementine and Red Wine Spritzers

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It’s amazing where you can find a brief vacation when there’s not actually time to get away.

Mostly all you need is a brightly colored Mexican cloth and a sunset colored cocktail.

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I’m aaallll sorts of ready to let these summer days wash over me, but my reality is much more indoor work style than outdoor beach style.  Is this your reality too?  It’s cool.  It’s totally cool.  We have wine, fancy fruit soda, warm air, late sunsets, and a few good friends to share it all with.  We won’t need much more.

Can we talk about this crazy awesome spritzer combination?  Clementine aaannnddd red wine!?  It’s unexpected.  It’s a high-five.  Trust me on this one!

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This seemingly abstract cocktail combination was inspired by a weekend in Austin Texas at the Hotel San Jose.  They’re clever with their cocktails, friendly in their service, and right on in their design.  Love this place!!

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I love that I could take a little piece of the Hotel San Jose pool with me home to Los Angeles.

It’s totally the drink I can stand around on in a striped dress and make on a Sunday.  Welcome to my life.

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This is an easy one!

Fill a tall glass with ice.  Fill the glass a third of the way full with clementine soda.

Is clementine soda just a fancy name for orange soda?  Sorta…

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Fill the remainder of the glass with sparkling red wine.  Yea!!  We’re fancy and we know it!

I used a dry Lambrusco for this spritzer.  It was delicious!

My friend Whitney who knows eighteen thousand more things about wine than I do also suggests a light to medium body red, something unoaked, like a Granache, Gamay or Frapatto.  Wine words!  Get into it!

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Just look at this happiness!  I love cocktail rainbows.

Actually… I think I mean rainbow cocktails.

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This mixture of cold sparkling wine with sweet clementine soda is completely surprising and happily refreshing.  It’s like sangria with less fruit and more red wine.  It’s different… and I mean that totally in a good way.  If you’re having a few friends over for a few happy cocktails, this cocktail is an ingenious way to serve something beautiful and stretch your one bottle of wine to satisfy many.  Think of this drink as a delicious, rainbow party, wine stretcher.  AKA:  heck yes!!

Clementine and Red Wine Spritzers

makes 4 cocktails

Print this Recipe!

1 bottle red wine (anything light to medium boxy, unoaked, not super sweet) (think dry Lambrusco (yay, it’s sparkling!!), Granche, Frappatto, Gamay)

2 bottled clementine soda

ice and straws

Fill each glass with ice.  Fill each glass a third of the way full with clementine soda.  Top with wine and serve immediately!

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70 Responses

  1. I am not sure I could find that clementine soda.From what I can see of the bottle,it looks similar to something I see in the Spanish stores.I know in blog you said just orange soda, but was wondering about a regular orange soda working.Like a Sunkist or something.They are just flavored and colored orange..LOl.But if you have tried that as well I will trust you on that.I need to make this tomorrow night.Thank you in advance.

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  3. This is sort of like a summery drink you can get in Spain called tinto de verano, but sort of a short cut. I’m going for it! The fact that it is going to be 118 degrees here this weekend is all the excuse I need.

  4. Lambrusco makes my heart happy, it is light enough for summer but still red winey enough to feel like a good grown-up pairing with food!

  5. My sangria obsession has simplified into a wine and sparkling beverages obsession, as well as a sparkling wine and juice obsession, but I’ve never tried red wine with clementine soda. I can’t wait! I too am stuck inside working when I would MUCH rather be out in the sun, but this will make up for that. Thanks!

  6. oh my gosh. i used to drink these cocktails when i lived in spain called “tinto de verano”, they were made with cheap red wine and orange fanta. they cost about a euro, and they will forever remind me of sevilla. this is like the grown up version of that, and it brought me back!

  7. Ok, so yesterday was the worst possible day ever. Death in the family, leaking shower into downstairs business, my step-grandma going into hospice. Seriously, all in one day. Soooooooooooo………then this pops into my email and I say, “Perfect day for a drink.” It was lovely. That and a little browned butter mac and cheese and I at least felt human again. Thanks Joy!

  8. fun little drink…the 3rd picture from Hotel San Jose says it all to me. yummy drink away from the hustle and bustle of life. sit back and enjoy!

  9. Yum! We have something in Spain called Tinto de Verano con limon – it is sparkling lemon soda with red wine and ice. So refreshing in the summertime!

  10. I come from a large Italian family and whenever we got together at my grandparents for our weekly family dinner, my parents would allow me a glass of my favorite drink which was ginger ale and my grandfather’s wine. I don’t know how or who introduced it to me and i was probably too young to be imbibing in it (ahem…4 years old and onwards…) but I thought it was delicious. Your drink is similar and it brought back some wonderful memories of my fam. Thank you.

  11. Perfect. We lived in a pueblo in Spain for a number of years and in the summer we’d always drink “tinto de vearno.” which is basically lemon soda with red wine and a chunk of lemon dropped in. –just right on the hottest summer evening with a table of tapas and the right friends.

  12. This is my first summer without holidays, that is my first summer working. I’ll have three weeks off, but it’s not the same as the good, old three month after school finished. That’s why I’m trying to appreciate late sunsets, friends, ice-creams and fruity sparkling cocktails. Any other suggestions to survive growing up?

  13. This is my first summer without holidays, that is my first summer working. I’ll have three weeks off, but it’s not the same as the good, old three month after school finished. That’s why I’m trying to appreciate late sunsets, friends, ice-creams and fruity sparkling cocktails. Any other suggestions to survive growing up?

  14. Tinto de verano! I love your spin on my favorite summer drink. Will have to try the clementine soda. Thanks for the beautiful inspiration.

  15. I live in the place people come for vacation. Being in the middle of the ocean, it’s really expensive to get away. We have to invent mini-vacations all the time, and a cocktail will usually take me there. I love that there are only two ingredients here. That makes it so easy to smuggle to the beach with my grill gear. Mahalo!

  16. Clementine soda and wine – yes, I could down these like no tomorrow!

    And they are beautiful, too! Like the grown up version of a tequila sunrise. Multi-colored layered drinks and me go way back :)

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