Spritz & Champagne Cocktails
Sparkling drinks are decided by two things: how dry the wine is and how cold it arrives in the glass. Here are the spritz, champagne and wine cocktails in this library — from the 3-2-1 Aperol Spritz to a Sangria built on red wine and brandy — with the bottle each one wants and the strength it really has.
Every recipe below names prosecco, cava, champagne or wine in its ingredient list, so nothing here is a spritz in name only.
Aperol Spritz
Bellini
French 75
Hugo Cocktail Recipe
Hugo Spritz
Mimosa
Negroni Sbagliato
Pornstar Martini
Sangria
St-Germain Cocktail Recipe
Choosing the sparkling base
Prosecco, cava, crémant or champagne. Prosecco is tank-fermented in Veneto from the Glera grape: fruitier, lighter at around 11% ABV and cheaper, which is why it carries the three parts of an Aperol Spritz. Cava is bottle-fermented in Spain and drier, with a yeasty edge that suits a Mimosa built on orange juice. Champagne and crémant are bottle-fermented too, sharper in acidity and around twice the price; the difference shows in a French 75, where the wine is a third of the glass, and disappears behind Aperol and soda.
Brut, extra dry and the sugar scale. Read the dosage line, not the big label. Brut nature sits under 3 g/l of sugar, extra brut up to 6 and brut up to 12 — and then comes the trap: extra dry runs from 12 to 17 g/l, so it is sweeter than brut despite the name. Prosecco labelled extra dry is everywhere and turns a Hugo into a soft drink. Choose brut or extra brut whenever the recipe already brings sugar of its own: Aperol, elderflower liqueur or orange juice.
Cold, and the 3-2-1 ratio. Chill the bottle to 6–8 °C and keep the glass in the freezer; sparkling wine at room temperature loses its gas within minutes and tastes flat and sweet. The Aperol Spritz is 3 parts prosecco, 2 parts Aperol and 1 part soda — 90, 60 and 30 ml — poured over a glass filled to the brim with ice, wine first and soda last. Never stir it hard: one gentle lift with a bar spoon keeps the carbonation that makes the drink.
Frequently asked questions
Is prosecco or champagne better in a spritz?
Prosecco. A spritz is three parts sparkling to two parts Aperol, so the wine is there for fizz and freshness, and a tank-fermented prosecco at 11% ABV delivers that for a fraction of the price. Save champagne for a French 75, where the wine is a third of the drink and you can actually taste it.
How strong is an Aperol Spritz?
Around 8–11% ABV in a large wine glass, roughly 1.5 standard drinks: 90 ml of prosecco at 11% plus 60 ml of Aperol at 11%, diluted by soda and melting ice. It drinks like a strong beer, which is exactly why it works as an aperitivo before dinner.
What can I use instead of prosecco?
Any dry sparkling wine: cava, crémant, a brut sparkling wine or champagne. Check the dosage is brut or extra brut, because an extra dry or demi-sec bottle adds 12–50 g/l of sugar that fights the bitter aperitivo. Avoid moscato altogether — far too sweet.
Other collections
Same library, grouped by what is in the glass.