Wine
Wine is precious, and has a long cultural and economic association in Europe and it is obvious that if you are a wine connoisseur, you won’t be agreeing to sacrifice your best bottle of Chardonnay from Ramey Rochiali Vineyard, or that lovely Pinot Noir from Wayfarer Golden Mean for a drink mixing experiment, or waste your bottle of Sine Quo Non by mixing it with Vodka or anything else.
But the truth is. Wine makes great cocktails too, and usually, the cheaper wines are the best bet for your drink mixing experiments, and that goes for professional bartenders too. Cheap but good wine forms an aromatic and very tasty base for so many cocktails.
Traditionally, a cocktail should consist of a base of a distilled spirit, sugar and bitters , but Wine based cocktails have become common place today, although traditional blends existed too. Kir for example is a French aperitif that is a combination of crème de cassis and white wine. However most wines used in cocktails today are generally, sparkling wines, fortified and aromatized wines, or brandy and other liquors distilled from wine.