We all have that friend, the one who means well but is clueless when it comes to wine. So what to do when they proudly gift you a bottle that, well, sucks? Here’s one use for those bottles during a hot, humid St. Louis summer – make a refreshing spritzer. All you need is 4 ounces cheap wine, 2 ounces seltzer and ice. Everything else is optional.
Red wine: Spritzers change subpar reds in the most astounding ways. Light wines become fizzy and fun, and big, overblown wines become drinkable after they’re diluted. You can add some fruit for flavor. I love orange and lemon slices for refreshment and added acidity. Berries work, too; they look spectacular and soak up all that wine for a boozy treat at the end.
White wine: Adding seltzer to whites can dilute any unwelcome oaky flavors and can balance overly sweet notes as well. You can doctor with simple syrup, too, for added sugar, or take a tip from a margarita and rim a glass with salt or amchur, a sour mango powder available at international markets.
So next time you get a bottle of wine you don’t quite love, don’t regift it to the next unsuspecting victim. Invite them over and make spritzers instead
This article appears in June 2015.