The rule of 1-2-3 - spritz

"It’s classy and delicious. It’s also extremely lucrative." Liam Broom

I have been dimly aware that the current drink craze is spritz - it pops up everywhere, so I decided to look into it because I wasn't really clear on whether this was an actual commercial product, or just a style. Well it is, of course, a bit of both.

I was also a bit unclear as to whether it was just wine watered down with mineral water - a white wine and soda was, after all, a drink one sometimes had on a hot day when you didn't want to consume too much alcohol. The French of course, back in the day, when they were giving their children wine to drink with their meals, would dilute the wine with mineral water - mostly flat though - definitely not spritz. Add a bit of fizz and suddenly it becomes a real drink rather than watered down wine. And to make it even more special - and yes - charge a bit more - you can add a slice of lemon or cucumber - something pretty anyway.

Indeed just to show I'm not far out in my question, in any history of the spritz you will see this story:

"The spritz bit stems from the even older spritzer drinking culture brought to the region in the 19th century by Austro-Hungarian soldiers, who would dilute their white wine with sparkling water." Dale Berning Sawa

'The region' being northern Italy where the wines were bitterer than the Germanic/Hungarian soldiers were used to. 'Spritzen' the German for wht they did means 'splash' in English, so I'm guessing there was rather more wine than sparkling water. My bet, however, is that mixing wine with fizzy water has been going on since the invention of fizzy water - and when was that?

"Joseph Priestley invented carbonated water, independently and by accident, in 1767 when he discovered a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide after having suspended a bowl of water above a beer vat at a brewery in Leeds, Yorkshire.' Wikipedia

This was not a commercial venture however. That happened a few years later:

"it was not until 1781 that carbonated water began being produced on a large scale ... The first factory was built by Thomas Henry of Manchester, England. ... Priestley's discovery ultimately led to the creation of the soft drink industry - which began in 1783 when Johann Jacob Schweppe founded Schweppes to sell bottled soda water" Wikipedia

Which is another potential post subject. - but not today.

And what about sangria? Isn't that just wine and soda water with lots of fruit? Generally, and probably 'authentically' this should be red wine - well it's Spanish - and I suppose to be fair the amount of fruit that goes into it would alter the taste somewhat, and make it something quite different - and push up the price. But nevertheless - fizzy water and wine.

I'm pretty sure I have tackled the Aperol spritz somewhere, so forgive me if I am repeating myself, but we cannot tackle the question of the spritz without talking about Aperol, because this is where we up the ante from wine and fizz with the addition of a liqueur/digestive to the mix.

Here I will doff my hat, as it were, to the Vine Pair website, which provided a very clear timeline of how we came to today's spritz - with the emphasis on Aperol.

To summarise:

In 1860 Campari invented bitter liqueurs

In 1919 - the Barbieri brothers of the city of Padua invented Aperol. What is Aperol made with? - "gentian, rhubarb, and cinchona, among other ingredients." Well it's a secret isn't it?

In 1930 - Aperol - still owned by the Barbieris upped their marketing, and particularly focussed on women.

In the 1950s-60s - the Aperol spritz was born - a mix of Aperol, soda water and Prosecco

In the 1980s and 1990s other aperitifs/liqueurs were added for variety and 'the spritz' was truly born - but only in Italy really

In 2003 Campari purchased Aperol and upped the marketing:

"Immediately following the purchase, the Campari Group made the decision to reposition the Aperol Spritz as a luxurious cocktail enjoyed by young people and fashionable world travelers. Their first move? Swapping out the cocktail’s traditional glassware for a large wine glass. As Julka Villa, CMO of the Campari Group, told the BBC, “[the] glass gave it visibility and dignity,” which, in turn, shifted its public perception in Italy away from lower-brow osterias. It also gave the Spritz the ideal jumping off point when the time came to market the cocktail overseas." Vine Pair

And so it spread to the world.

In 2010 - having been granted DOC status, prosecco explodes on to the scene which adds to the popularity of the spritz. The young jumped on the bandwagon and hit social media with celebrity endorsements, influencers too, as well as new varieties of Aperol itself being introduced.

So today in 2024 - there is a boom in the concept and a concomitant explosion of spritzes, some made in bars, cafés and restaurants, some made at home, and some ready-made in bottles and cans. When I fed 'spritz' into Dan Murphy's search engine I was told there were 280 results!

So why are they so popular? Well The Guardian quotes a British bar manager, Liam Broom as saying that it's:

“'a kind of bridge” between the wine and cocktail worlds. ... It has the same serve as a wine, has the same aesthetic as a wine, but also but has some more nuance and intrigue.”

Alos potentially more expensive by the glass as well. However, I also think it's cool in every sense of the word - it's summer in a glass, so if it's summer you can sit back and enjoy the sun and the holiday mood, whereas in winter, like NIgella, you can pretend.

So how do you make them for your next party?

"While they’re typically made using the classic 1-2-3 formula (one part soda water, two parts bitter liqueur and three parts prosecco) they can be easily tweaked to suit your palate, budget and food pairing." Thomas Carr/The Guardian

And at the end of his article Thomas Carr gives you a guide to some that you can buy in Dan Murphy's ranging in price from $35 to an eye-watering $120 for an orange spritz from Sardinia - now surely you can make yourself that from that old bottle of Grand Marnier or Cointreau that you have lurking in the cupboard, plus some prosecco and soda?

What about those extras that you often see in your spritz from the cocktail bar? The original addition for the Aperol spritz was olives - as in a Martini, although these days it seems to have been replaced with a sliver of orange - much to the chagrin of one Robert Pasimi who says:

"leaving the salty olive out of any spritz as “a big loss for humanity” because of the umami it brings to an otherwise pretty sweet drink."

I also saw a lot of people added a sprig of rosemary, which is also a little bitter I guess. Whilst another drink expert Steven Roennfeldt:

"suggests adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a pinch of salt to your spritz. Salt really subdues the bitterness and increases the fruitiness.”

I will end with what is apparently the very latest sensation - the limoncello spritz, which has boosted the sales of limoncello world-wide. And anyone can make it. It does not have a DOC attached and so anyone can use the name.

This particular version of the spritz hit a chord with me because I make my own limoncello. In Thomas Carr's list he had a bottle of limoncello spritz which used a bottle of limoncello from the Bass and Flinders distillery for $60. Now you can make your own limoncello with a bottle of vodka - I suspect any old vodka would do, lemons from your own or your neighbour's tree and some sugar. Yes vodka can cost a lot, but I just buy the cheapest I can find and it works. Valli Little's recipe in delicious. is pretty much what I do.

Then you can check out Rachel Dixon's 5 limoncello cocktails on The Guardian website and have a party. Or else just enjoy a shot of limoncello after a special meal.

The limoncello I made last year is rather darker than that shown here, but I forgot about it and so it matured for much longer than it needed to. Tastes good though. Let's say it's matured, and is the golden colour of a summer's evening.

And yes I should try it with some soda water (1 part), limoncello (2 parts) and some bubbly (3 parts) - surely it doesn't have to be prosecco - or even bubbly? It could be white wine. Rules are made to be broken aren't they?

YEARS AGO

November 3

2023 - Nothing

2022 - Just a thing?

2021 - Feral pigs - not really wild boar

2020 - One day - two massive events

2019 - So much cheese - muhlama and pide kaseri

2018 - Nothing

2017 - Nothing

2016 - Clams - otherwise known as cockles or pipis