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No-Fuss Guide · No. 22

Wine with Sprite, Coke or ice: is that OK? It is. And every country has its own mix

It is. It's your wine, and mixing is a tradition in half the world: Spanish sangria, Basque kalimotxo (red with cola), tinto de verano (with soda water), the Italian spritz and our own quentão (a hot spiced drink from Brazil's June festivals). Even a Master of Wine, asked by Decanter about ice in the glass, replied that everyone can do whatever they like with their wine, as long as it makes them happy. Liked it? Then you can, and it's great that you found out what you like.

Each country's mix

• Sangria. In Brazil, the law defines it: 7% to 12% alcohol, at least half wine and 10% citrus juice (2.5% if it's lemon only); it may contain sugar and carbonation, but no synthetic flavoring. In Europe the name is protected: sangria made outside Spain and Portugal has to say where it was produced.
• Kalimotxo (or calimocho): red wine with Coca-Cola. The version most often told by the Basque press says the name was born in 1972, at a fiesta in Algorta, in the Basque Country, when some Rioja turned out to be spoiled and was rescued with cola; the mix already existed as “Rioja libre”.
• Tinto de verano: red wine with soda water or gaseosa (Spain's sweet fizzy lemonade), the Spanish summer cooler. They say it was born at a roadside inn in Córdoba; that's oral tradition, with no proof.
• Spritz: at the end of the 19th century, Austro-Hungarian soldiers in northern Italy diluted their wine with sparkling water; the bitter came later. The official Aperol Spritz recipe is 3, 2, 1: 90 ml of prosecco, 60 ml of Aperol, 30 ml of sparkling water, ice and a slice of orange.
• Mulled wine: German glühwein, under European rules, is wine only, spiced with cinnamon or cloves, with no water. Quentão, according to the dictionary, can be made with cachaça or with wine, boiled with ginger, cinnamon and sugar.

And what comes ready-made in the bottle

Brazilian law also has names for ready-made mixes. A coquetel de vinho (wine cocktail) mixes wine with another alcoholic drink and fruit juice, at 5% to 14% alcohol, with at least half wine. A cooler com vinho (wine cooler) is the light version, at 3.5% to 7%, and all of the alcohol has to come from the wine.

Ice in your wine? That's fine too

Decanter reports that on Mediterranean terraces ice is already offered with white and rosé. The only catch is that ice melts and dilutes; frozen grapes in the glass chill without watering it down. To chill the whole bottle, the bucket with water, ice and salt does it in 15 to 20 minutes.

Which wine to use

For mixing, you don't need the best in the cellar: the law itself lets sangria be made with table wine. Pick one you like on its own, because it's still in there.

A friendly heads-up

Two small studies, done with vodka, offer a clue that probably holds for wine too: with sparkling water, alcohol reached the blood faster in most people, and diet soda made breath alcohol rise more than regular soda did (without people noticing). Nothing dramatic: just know that a fizzy mix hits faster, and have a glass of water in between.