16 Absolute Best Sparkling Wine Cocktails You Need To Try At Least Once
There's nothing quite like a buoyant, fizzy cocktail made with sparkling wine. To be honest, these fizzy, effervescent cocktails just have more fun. Thanks to the bubbles, they're playful and bright, while the unique profile of the wine brings a multi-dimensional complexity to the drink. Many can also seamlessly transition from breakfast to happy hour and carry through late into the evening without missing a beat. They are fun, versatile, diverse, and come together easily.
While you will surely come across sparkling wine cocktails unique to niche bars, you'll also find a handful of classics on menus wherever you go. Cocktails like the French 75, Aperol Spritz, and mimosa have stood the test of time and are always worth an order. But, when you're feeling like trying a more whimsical creation, you can turn to beverages like the Sprezzatura Royale and the Lone Ranger to pack a punch and pique your palate. Whether you are looking for a Champagne base or something with a sparkling rosé, these are the absolute best sparkling wine cocktails you need to try at least once.
Read more: The 40 Absolute Best Cocktails That Feature Only 2 Ingredients
French 75
A French 75 is perhaps one of the most iconic cocktails. It's elegant, refreshing, and timeless. This cocktail's name stems from French weaponry used during World War I. Although this beverage has seen many iterations over the years, it came into its own by 1927 and settled on its beloved combination of Champagne, gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Lively, persistent Champagne bubbles flood the surface of the glass, while a hit of acidity from the fresh lemon juice balances out the beverage.
The French 75, which is traditionally served in a flute with a subtle lemon twist, is like the ballerina of cocktails. It's delicate but not overly sweet or simple. And don't be fooled by its elegance; the combination of sparkling wine and gin also packs a powerful, boozy punch. This statement drink, dressed up and ready for brunch or an evening out, is a delight to drink anytime.
Campari Spritz
The Campari Spritz is often overlooked in favor of the more commercialized Aperol Spritz. While the two cocktails share similar ingredients, Campari's distinct profile distinguishes it from Aperol.
Campari is a northern Italian aperitif that was developed in 1860 with a secret recipe of bitter herbs, aromatics, and fruits infused into alcohol. Its prominent bitter notes give it more of an edge and arguably more complexity than Aperol. The aperitif is distinctly strong and brooding on its own, but it's balanced out in a spritz with help from fizzy prosecco and soda water. The sweetness from the prosecco mellows out the strength of the Campari, while the splash of soda water makes this one of the absolute best sparkling cocktails to drink on a sunny afternoon without getting too tipsy. The Campari Spritz cocktail is irresistibly simple to make yourself, too. Pour the three ingredients over ice, and you've got yourself a delicious cocktail.
Mimosa
Mimosas are the quitessential brunch cocktail. The classic and simple mimosa recipe comprises equal parts Champagne and orange juice. It's an easy-to-drink, sparkling beverage that's hard to pass up.
While it is surprisingly easy to make, there are a few important details that will elevate a mimosa from so-so to brunch bliss. Firstly, the quality of the two ingredients greatly impacts the cocktail's depth and freshness. After all, there are only two ingredients, so they better be good. Fresh-squeezed orange juice will make all the difference here; it offers punchier citrus notes, good acidity, and brilliant color.
The quality of the Champagne is equally as important. While you may not want to mix your $75 grower Champagne into a glass of orange juice, you should still avoid using the cheapest bottle that you can find. Finally, properly chilling the two components is key to cocktail success since no ice is involved. Mimosas are one of the best (and easiest) sparkling wine cocktails out there to master at home.
Kir Royale
Another Champagne-based wonder, the Kir Royale, is a French-born cocktail dating back to the 19th century. The surprisingly simple sparkling wine cocktail consists of Champagne and crème de cassis. While you're likely familiar with Champagne, crème de cassis might be more of an unknown. The French liqueur is made from blackcurrants and has a rich, sweet flavor that is balanced somewhat by the tartness of the berries. The Kir Royale is defined by a distinct flavor profile with ample depth, fruity notes, and delectable tannins.
While this sparkling wine cocktail is a must-try, you can also venture into other Kir variations like the Kir Imperial. These cocktails are nearly twinning, but the Kir Imperial uses Chambord, a raspberry liqueur, instead of crème de cassis. Both are bubbly, bright, and rich in fruit notes and are best served in an elegant flute with a lemon twist.
Hugo Spritz
Wait, there's another spritz? Um, yeah, and its name is Hugo. The Hugo Spritz, a recent addition to the spritz line-up, comes from none other than the spritz capital of the world: northern Italy. While Italians have been sipping on spritzes for over a century, the Hugo Spritz is the region's latest and greatest addition.
The Hugo Spritz, defined by fragrant and floral elderflower cordial, was born out of the South Tyrol region. The elderflower is a bright, floral twist on the Aperol Spritz, with notes of lemon, lychee, and green, unripe fruit. The duo of the liqueur and prosecco match nicely, each with similar citrus fruit notes that play back and forth.
The spritz is topped off with soda water, making it a lower-alcohol cocktail that's easy to sip and keep sipping. Unlike the more popular Aperol and Campari Spritzes, the Hugo Spritz doesn't have a bitter component. Instead, it highlights the floral and citrus notes for a whimsical and summery flavor.
Negroni Sbagliato
You've likely heard of a negroni, and if you spend a lot of time on TikTok, you've likely heard of a negroni sbagliato. The sparkling cocktail version of a negroni got its 15 seconds of fame in a celebrity interview in 2022 and never looked back. The drink was actually created as a mistake; the original bartender poured prosecco instead of gin into a negroni, and a new beverage was born.
The standard recipe for a negroni sbagliato is equal parts sweet vermouth, Campari, and prosecco. It's got all the complexity and mouth-watering bitter components of a negroni but with a playful and effervescent personality. This '80s beverage plays the part and offers a fun energy -- orange garnish and all. The negroni sbagliato has a lower alcohol by volume than other cocktails at around 13%. So, it packs a playful punch but also makes for a great daytime bubbly cocktail. If you're already hooked on Campari, the negroni sbagliato is one of the absolute best sparkling wine cocktails you need to try at least once.
Aperol Spritz
Whether you're meandering through an Italian piazza or just scrolling down your Instagram feed, you may have seen big goblets filled to the brim with ice and iridescent orange liquid, sparkling in the sunlight, and topped with a slice of orange. Enter, the Aperol Spritz.
The popular Italian aperitif is now known and beloved worldwide. It exudes the "I'm on vacation" vibe or, at minimum, the "it's happy hour, and I don't have a care in the world" vibe. The classic spritz, a tried and true concoction of Aperol, prosecco, and soda water, buzzes with big orange and citrus energy and carefree bubbles. Aperol has strong orange notes with herbaceous undertones that give a slightly bitter edge to the otherwise sweet ingredients. When combined with a floral and lemon-forward prosecco, the combo hits in an unmistakably refreshing and lighthearted way. If you haven't sipped an Aperol Spritz through a big straw in the sun, now is the time.
Air Mail
The Air Mail may be a lesser-known sparkling wine cocktail, but it has quite the story and, to be honest, really deserves a seat at the bar. The drink, which was developed by Bacardi in the 1930s as a homage to actual air mail delivery, combines the lush and tropical notes of rum with Champagne, lime juice, and honey syrup. Basically, the Air Mail takes luxurious Champagne and adds big, bold island notes of caramel, coconut, vanilla, and lime to make it -- dare we say, more fun? It's a boozy, flavorful cocktail with lusciously sweet undertones that are undeniably good.
Although the beverage is traditionally served in a highball glass with a garnish of lime or a sprig of mint, we don't blame you if you prefer to drink yours out of a freshly cut coconut. The Air Mail is glorified island vibes and a sparkling wine cocktail worth ordering from the tiki bar.
Lone Ranger
Although its name might suggest otherwise, the Lone Ranger is an airy, pink cocktail made for day drinking and beyond. Beyond the pretty pink bubbles, the sparkling wine cocktail offers a boozy complement that's both playful and effervescent.
This cocktail is somewhat of a riff on the classic French 75. It keeps the lemon juice and simple syrup but replaces gin with tequila and Champagne with sparkling rosé. It's a rowdier, sparkling wine cocktail that really couldn't look prettier if it tried. The red-fruit-driven rosé mellows out the icy shaken tequila, lemon juice, and simple syrup. You can even up the fruity flavor by adding in blackberries, raspberries, or sliced strawberries. When it's served in a Collins glass over ice, it looks like a raspberry lemonade garnished with a lime wedge. And it goes down just as easily, making it one beverage you'll want to sip on all summer long.
Champagne Bowler
The Champagne Bowler, also known as the Sparkling Bowler, is a boozy powerhouse of a drink made with a trifecta of Champagne, white wine, and cognac mixed with a splash of simple syrup and muddled strawberries. The strawberries give it a bright red hue with a fruit-forward flavor, which makes the drink feel quite festive. The white wine of choice here is typically chardonnay, which adds tropical fruit notes to the cocktail, while the cognac gives the drink a rich depth. The sparkling wine cocktail is topped with Champagne, which gives it the lift that it needs, along with a bubbly edge.
It comes together with a shaker and ice pretty easily, so you can try this one at home. Serve it over ice in a big wine goblet and garnish with more fresh strawberries. It's a showy cocktail that looks and tastes good from brunch onward and is perfect for swapping out the mimosas.
Cinque 7 Spritz
There can never be too many spritzes, especially with delicious options like the Cinque 7 Spritz. While the prosecco is on par with other spritz drinks, this recipe swaps out the bittersweet liqueur (like Aperol or Campari) with a slightly sweet Vermouth di Torino. It features white vermouth, which is less sweet than the red versions, and instead has some tart and floral undertones.
The Cinque 7 Spritz is typically made with equal parts vermouth and prosecco and finished off with soda water. It has a delicate characteristic to it, thanks to the vermouth's nuanced grape, pear, pine, and elderflower flavors. The sparkling wine cocktail comes together seamlessly over ice and is typically garnished with lemon. It's a great pre-dinner beverage to kick off your evening and can be enjoyed any time of year. You can also switch things up and bring some orange bitters to the party, but we think this unique spritz is perfect as-is.
Sprezzatura Royale
The Sprezzatura Royale is equally as fun to drink as it is to say. "Sprezzatura" is an Italian word used to describe a fashionable, nonchalant, and chic look. The name is quite fitting for the cool, sophisticated cocktail, which is made from amaro, cognac, sparkling rosé, lemon juice, and honey syrup.
Once you gather the ingredients, everything goes effortlessly into a shaker with ice before it's poured into a flute and topped with sparkling rosé wine. The concoction creates a beautifully statured amber color, almost like a beer, with little bubbles bursting at the surface. The acidic lemon juice and fruity notes of the sparkling rosé balance out the richly flavored and textured amaro and cognac. It's the no-makeup beverage of the cocktail world and one that should be on your must-try list if you love all things floral and fruity.
Bellini
The Bellini is one of those cocktails most people have heard of but may not have tried. This peach-infused, sparkling wine cocktail was invented at the famed Harry's Bar in Veneto in the 1940s. The artistic inspiration behind the drink is none other than 15th-century Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini. It was said that the vibrant, blushed peach puree and prosecco were reminiscent of his paintings. The Bellini is now a beloved cocktail that is now widely available at bars around the world.
Everyone takes a slightly different approach to the Bellini's mixology, but the gist is fresh peach puree, perhaps with a splash of lemon juice, mixed with Champagne or prosecco. The peach brings out sweet, floral, and fleshy notes in the drink, making it a go-to for a big brunch session. This sparkling wine cocktail served in a flute, is one that you'll most likely be ordering second rounds of. It's delicious and a delight to drink.
Death In The Afternoon
The name of this sparkling wine cocktail kind of says it all. Death in the Afternoon, which is traditionally served in a coupe glass, is a mix of absinthe and Champagne. The vibrant green, anise-flavored spirit is added first, followed by the chilled Champagne. The almost magical chemical reaction between the two liquids causes the once translucent liquids to make a cloudy, cool-toned yellow cocktail with strong alcoholic undertones.
On its own, absinthe is powerful, but with the addition of Champagne, it's somewhat diluted — but only in flavor, not in alcohol content. If you love fennel flavors, this cocktail is for you. The sharp notes are carried through each Champagne bubble onto your tongue, giving it a perfectly balanced profile of green herbaceousness and fruity, yeasty complexity with each sip. If you like drinking Champagne, you'll surely fall in love with this drink.
Marasca Fizz
If you are always in search of the sweetest cocktail on the menu or have a strong affinity for cherries, the Marasca Fizz is for you. Think of this one as an adult version of a Shirley Temple. It's a bright red, fizzy delight of a cocktail made with maraschino cherry syrup, cherry liqueur, Angostura Bitters, maraschino cherries, and Champagne.
There might be more than a couple of ingredients here, but each one brings something to the drink. The Champagne and bitters neutralize a bit of the syrupy sweetness from the cherries and the cherry liqueur and add some much-needed acidity. The double-packed fruity combo really defines the flavor of this drink. Plus, the color and cherry garnish give this sparkling wine cocktail an edge over the others for holiday parties. The Marasca Fizz is a super festive, boozy cocktail and a great accompaniment to a holiday cookie plate.
Old Cuban
An Old Cuban combines all the beloved flavors of aged rum, mint, lime, and sweet, simple syrup and tops it off with a few drops of aromatic bitters and a splash of Champagne. Think of a Mojito but with a fizzy splash of sparkling wine and more complexity.
This vibrant yellow drink is perfect for folks who love the rich, luscious flavors of an aged rum paired with an acidic hint of lime, fresh mint, and the effervescence of a good Champagne. It's rich and refreshing all at the same time. Plus, the clove and cinnamon-forward Angostura bitters add an additional layer of warm, spiced notes to the beverage. It makes for a sparkling cocktail that feels inviting and encompassing in winter and rejuvenating in summer. An Old Cuban integrates these flavors seamlessly, making it a great choice for sipping on year-round.
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