Recently, we've been thinking of sparkling wine cocktails and gratuitously we received the FIOL Prosecco Extra Dry NV ($19) to get us started. The brand name "FIOL" means "son" in the Venetian dialect but can also refer to a friend or chap. The wine is made in the Prosecco heartland of Treviso where the Glera grape excels in the alluvial and clay-loam soils containing plenty of minerals and micronutrients. Uniquely, the grapes are selected from about 2,300 farmers, accounting for a combined 6,000 hectares (upward of 14,800 acres) of vineyards and multiple terroirs. After gentle pressing and the initial fermentation, the wine then undergoes 40 days of secondary fermentation in large, pressurized stainless-steel tanks using the Charmat method. Bottled and poured fresh into the flute, the sparkling wine offers subtle floral notes with green apple, pear, and citrus flavors. Let's look at some cocktails.
Negroni SbagliatoWant a lighter Negroni, but not lose the gin botanicals. The floral and citrus notes from the FIOL help alleviate the lack of gin while providing a more afternoon friendly libation.
Equal parts Campari, Sweet Vermouth (The Wine Collective Vermu), FIOL Prosecco
French 75This popular and traditional cocktail is basically gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and sparkling wine. According to Food & Wine, the first known version of the cocktail was called the Soixante-Quinze. It is said to have been created during World War I around 1915 by a Parisian bartender. With some resemblance to what we know the French 75 to be today, the 1915 version of the Soixante-Quinze was made with gin, lemon, grenadine, applejack brandy, and a bit of water. Since then the cocktail has evolved with different variations on the recipe. It was in 1927, in a cocktail book called Here's How written by Judge Jr., that the French 75 got its contemporary name and a signature splash of Champagne -- although Prosecco works just as well.
- 1 oz. gin (Sipsong Spirits)
- 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
- 4 oz. chilled FIOL Prosecco
