Wine Cocktails: Classic Recipes & Creative Twists

Wine doesn't have to stay in the glass. Some of the most satisfying drinks you'll ever make start with a pour of Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, or a dry rosé.

Wine cocktails work for every occasion and every season. Sangria makes sense at a summer barbecue. Mulled wine belongs at a winter gathering. A crisp spritzer fits a Tuesday afternoon just as naturally as it fits a dinner party. Whatever you're working with, a bold red, a light white, a bottle of Prosecco, there's a cocktail that starts there.

This guide covers the classics that have earned their place, organized by wine style, plus modern recipes worth adding to your rotation. Browse Wine Insiders' full wine collection to find the right bottle for your next batch.

Red Wine Cocktails

Red wine brings structure, depth, and natural fruit to any cocktail. Bold reds hold their own against spirits and spices. Lighter reds let other ingredients shine. Either way, the wine does most of the work.

Red Sangria

Sangria is Spain's most famous export after the wine itself. The drink originated on the Iberian Peninsula, where locals have been mixing wine with fruit and spirits for centuries. The name comes from "sangre" (blood), a nod to the drink's deep red color.

Recipe:

• 1 bottle (750ml) red wine

• 2 oz brandy

• 2 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec)

• 2 tablespoons simple syrup or honey

• 1 orange, sliced

• 1 apple, chopped

• 1 lemon, sliced

• Fresh berries (optional)

• 1 cinnamon stick

• Club soda to top (optional)

Combine wine, brandy, liqueur, and sweetener in a pitcher. Add fruit and cinnamon stick. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Serve over ice, topped with club soda if you want fizz.

Don't skip the refrigerator time — the fruit needs hours to properly infuse the wine. Tempranillo, Merlot, or any medium-bodied red works beautifully here.

Tinto de Verano

While tourists order sangria, locals in Spain drink Tinto de Verano. The name translates to "red wine of summer." It's simpler than sangria, faster to make, and arguably more refreshing.

Recipe:

• 4 oz red wine

• 4 oz lemon soda (Sprite, 7UP, or Spanish Gaseosa)

• Ice

• Lemon slice

Pour wine and lemon soda over ice in equal parts. Add a lemon slice. That's it.

Any light to medium-bodied red works here. Garnacha, Rioja, or Pinot Noir all fit naturally.

Mulled Wine

Northern Europe's answer to cold weather. Mulled wine dates back to Roman times, when people heated wine with spices to survive winter. It's been a Christmas market staple across Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain ever since.

Recipe:

• 1 bottle (750ml) red wine

• ¼ cup brandy or rum (optional)

• ¼ cup honey or brown sugar

• 1 orange, sliced

• 8 whole cloves

• 3 cinnamon sticks

• 3 star anise

• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Combine everything in a pot. Heat gently until steaming — don't boil. Simmer on low for 15–20 minutes. Strain and serve warm.

Boiling burns off the alcohol and turns the wine bitter. Keep it below a simmer. Any affordable red works here since the spices do most of the work. Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel both hold up well.

New York Sour

A whiskey cocktail with a red wine float that gives it a signature two-tone look. The drink likely originated in Chicago in the 1880s, though New York claimed the name.

Recipe:

• 2 oz bourbon or rye whiskey

• 1 oz fresh lemon juice

• ¾ oz simple syrup

• ½ oz dry red wine

• Ice

Shake whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup with ice. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Slowly pour red wine over the back of a spoon to float it on top.

The wine layer adds a fruity, tannic note that balances the whiskey's heat. Use a medium-bodied red with enough structure to hold up against the spirit.

Red Wine Negroni

The classic Negroni gets a wine twist. Red wine replaces the gin, creating something less spirit-forward but equally complex.

Recipe:

• 3 oz red wine

• 1 oz Campari

• 1 oz sweet vermouth

• Orange peel

• Ice

Combine wine, Campari, and vermouth over ice in a rocks glass. Stir gently. Express orange peel over the drink and drop it in.

The wine softens the Negroni's bitter edges while adding fruit and body. Use a bold red with enough tannins to stand up to the Campari. Malbec or Syrah both work well.

White Wine Cocktails

White wine's natural acidity and versatility make it one of the best cocktail bases there is. Dry, crisp whites play well with citrus and herbs. Aromatic styles add floral complexity. Sparkling whites bring their own effervescence.

Kir

French simplicity at its finest. Crème de cassis (black currant liqueur) meets dry white wine, and that's the whole drink. The Kir originated in Burgundy and was popularized by Canon Félix Kir, mayor of Dijon, who served it at official functions after World War II.

Recipe:

• 5 oz dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)

• ½ oz crème de cassis

Pour the cassis into a wine glass, top with chilled white wine. No stirring needed.

Swap the white wine for Champagne and you have a Kir Royale.

White Sangria

Red sangria gets more attention, but the white version deserves equal billing. It's lighter, more versatile with fruit, and far less likely to stain the tablecloth.

Recipe:

• 1 bottle (750ml) dry white wine

• 2 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec)

• 1 oz brandy

• 2 tablespoons honey or simple syrup

• 1 cup mixed fruit (peaches, green apples, citrus slices, grapes)

• Fresh mint or basil

• Club soda to top (optional)

Combine wine, liqueur, brandy, and sweetener in a pitcher. Add fruit and herbs. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Serve over ice, topped with club soda if desired.

Albariño or unoaked Chardonnay both work beautifully here.

Bicicletta

A fixture at bars in the Veneto region for decades, the Bicicletta has been earning fans outside Italy in recent years. The name means "bicycle" — allegedly because locals could drink a few and still ride home safely.

Recipe:

• 3 oz dry white wine

• 2 oz Campari or Aperol

• Splash of sparkling water

• Orange slice

Build over ice in a rocks glass, stir, and garnish with an orange slice. Use Aperol for a sweeter, less bitter version.

The Bicicletta sits somewhere between a spritzer and a Negroni. It's sessionable, slightly bitter, and easy to drink.

Elderflower White Wine Fizz

Elderflower liqueur and white wine share a natural affinity. Both bring floral notes and fruit-forward character, and the combination feels more sophisticated than the effort required.

Recipe:

• 4 oz dry white wine

• 1 oz St-Germain or other elderflower liqueur

• 2 oz sparkling water

• Fresh lemon twist

• Ice

Combine wine and elderflower liqueur over ice, top with sparkling water, express lemon twist over the drink and drop it in.

This works beautifully as a batch cocktail. Scale up the wine and liqueur, refrigerate, and add sparkling water to individual glasses when serving.

Spicy Jalapeño White Wine Cooler

Heat and white wine work better together than you'd expect. The wine's acidity tempers the jalapeño's burn while the capsaicin adds a lingering warmth.

Recipe:

• 4 oz dry white wine

• 1 oz fresh lime juice

• ½ oz agave or simple syrup

• 2–3 thin jalapeño slices

• Club soda

• Ice

Muddle jalapeño slices with lime juice and agave in a shaker. Add wine and ice, shake briefly, and strain into a glass over fresh ice. Top with club soda.

Remove the jalapeño seeds for a milder version, or leave them in for more kick. A grassy Sauvignon Blanc holds up to the spice particularly well.

Rosé Wine Cocktails

Rosé is the most versatile wine in the glass. It's dry enough to work in spirit-forward drinks, fruity enough to carry a spritzer, and structured enough to survive the blender.

Rosé Spritzer

Light, pink, and endlessly refreshing. The rosé spritzer is the easiest crowd-pleaser in the repertoire.

Recipe:

• 4 oz dry rosé wine

• 2 oz club soda or sparkling water

• Ice

• Lemon or lime wheel

Build over ice in a wine glass, stir gently, garnish with citrus. That's it.

Add a splash of elderflower liqueur or muddle in a few berries if you want to dress it up. Any dry rosé works here.

Frosé

Frozen rosé. The blender does the work, and the result is somewhere between a slushy and a cocktail — cold, fruity, and impossible to drink slowly.

Recipe:

• 1 bottle dry rosé

• 2 oz vodka or rosé wine (to lower freezing point)

• 2 oz simple syrup

• 2 oz fresh lemon juice

• Fresh berries for blending (optional)

Pour rosé into a shallow pan and freeze for at least 6 hours until slushy (it won't freeze solid due to the alcohol). Blend the frozen rosé with vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice, and berries if using until smooth. Serve immediately.

Use a full-bodied, darker rosé as the base. These retain their flavor once frozen better than pale, delicate styles.

Rosé Lemonade Spritzer

Rosé and lemonade taste like they were made for each other. The tartness of fresh lemon cuts through the wine's fruit, and the result is balanced and genuinely refreshing.

Recipe:

• 3 oz dry rosé wine

• 2 oz fresh lemonade

• 1 oz sparkling water

• Fresh mint

• Ice

Build over ice, top with sparkling water, garnish with mint and a lemon wheel. Works well in a pitcher for a group.

Sparkling Wine Cocktails

Sparkling wine brings its own effervescence, so cocktails built on it tend to feel celebratory without requiring much effort.

Mimosa

No brunch is complete without one. The mimosa is simple, celebratory, and endlessly riffable.

Recipe:

• 3 oz sparkling wine (Prosecco, Cava, or Champagne)

• 3 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice

Fill a Champagne flute with equal parts sparkling wine and OJ. That's the classic. From there, swap orange juice for grapefruit, blood orange, mango, or pineapple. Add a splash of Grand Marnier or Chambord if you want more complexity.

Bellini

Invented at Harry's Bar in Venice, the Bellini has been a brunch staple since the 1930s. Giuseppe Cipriani named it after the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini, supposedly inspired by the color of a saint's toga in one of his paintings.

Recipe:

• 2 oz white peach purée

• 4 oz Prosecco

Add peach purée to a Champagne flute, top slowly with Prosecco, stir gently.

Fresh white peach purée makes the best Bellinis, but quality peach nectar works in a pinch. The drink should be pale pink, not orange.

Champagne Cocktail

Dating back to the 1850s, the classic Champagne cocktail adds a layer of ceremony to sparkling wine.

Recipe:

• 1 sugar cube

• 3 dashes Angostura bitters

• 4–5 oz Champagne or sparkling wine

• Lemon or orange twist

Soak the sugar cube in bitters and drop it into a flute. Top with Champagne. Garnish with a twist of citrus. No sugar cube? Use 1 teaspoon of sugar and 3–5 dashes of bitters.

The sugar cube slowly dissolves, changing the drink's sweetness level as you go. It's a classic for a reason.

Sparkling Negroni

The classic Negroni gets a bubbly upgrade. Sparkling wine replaces the gin, creating a lighter, more sessionable take on the original.

Recipe:

• 4 oz Brut sparkling wine

• 1 oz Campari

• 1 oz sweet vermouth

• Orange slice

Fill a rocks glass with ice. Add Campari and vermouth, stir gently, then top with sparkling wine. Garnish with an orange slice.

Use Rosé Prosecco for a fruitier, slightly sweeter version.

Tips for Making Wine Cocktails

Choose the Right Wine for the Job

The wine you pick sets the tone for the entire drink.

• Light reds (Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Gamay): Best for spritzes and recipes where you want other ingredients to show through.

• Medium-bodied reds (Merlot, Tempranillo, Garnacha): Versatile. Work in sangria, Tinto de Verano, and most modern recipes.

• Bold reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Zinfandel): Save these for mulled wine, spiced cocktails, and drinks with strong flavors that need the wine's structure.

• Dry, crisp whites (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Albariño): Best for cocktails with citrus, herbs, or bitter elements.

• Aromatic whites (Riesling, Moscato): Work well in sweeter cocktails or those with tropical fruit.

• Dry rosé: The most flexible of all — works in spritzes, frozen drinks, and spirit-based cocktails.

• Sparkling wines: Essential for Bellinis, mimosas, and any cocktail where you want built-in effervescence. Avoid heavily oaked whites and heavily tannic reds in most mixed drinks. Both fight back against other ingredients.

Don't Use Expensive Wine

Save premium bottles for drinking straight. The added ingredients mask a wine's nuances, so everyday bottles are the right call for cocktails.

Temperature Matters

Cold cocktails need chilled wine. Room temperature wine in a spritzer tastes flat and disappointing. Keep bottles refrigerated if you're planning to mix drinks. For mulled wine, keep the heat below a simmer — boiling burns off the alcohol and turns the wine bitter.

Batch for Parties

Wine cocktails scale up easily. Mix everything except the carbonated ingredients in advance and refrigerate. Add sparkling elements just before serving. For sangria, the longer it sits (up to 24 hours), the better — the fruit keeps infusing the wine, and everything melds together.

Rescue Leftover Wine

Cocktails are the perfect destination for wine that's been open a day or two. The subtle oxidation that makes wine less pleasant to drink straight disappears the moment you add fruit, spices, or other ingredients.

Wine Cocktails: Frequently Asked Questions

What wine works best for cocktails?

Dry, unoaked styles generally perform best. For reds, medium-bodied wines like Merlot and Tempranillo are the most versatile. For whites, crisp styles like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio work in most recipes. For sparkling, dry Prosecco or Cava cover most occasions without breaking the budget.

Are wine cocktails lower in alcohol than regular cocktails?

Usually yes. Most wines range from 11–15% ABV, and most cocktail recipes dilute that further with juice, soda, or ice. They tend to be lower in alcohol than spirit-forward drinks, though adding multiple spirits (as in sangria) brings the ABV closer to a traditional cocktail.

How long does sangria need to sit?

At least 4 hours, though overnight is better. The fruit needs time to infuse the wine properly. Made-ahead sangria (without club soda) keeps refrigerated for up to 48 hours.

Can I make wine cocktails ahead of time for a party?

Most of them, yes. Mix everything except carbonated ingredients, refrigerate, and add sparkling water, club soda, or Prosecco when serving. Sangria actually improves with time. Frosé needs to be made the day before to freeze properly.

What can I do with leftover wine?

Make a cocktail. Sangria, spritzers, and mulled wine all work well with wine that's been open a day or two. The other ingredients mask any oxidation, and the drink tastes just as good as it would with a freshly opened bottle.

Your Next Wine Cocktail

Wine cocktails reward experimentation. Start with the classics to understand how each style behaves in a mixed drink, then work your way through the modern recipes or invent your own. The forgiving nature of these drinks — you can adjust ratios, swap fruits, and try different wine styles without much risk — makes them a great place to experiment.

Wine Insiders carries a range of reds, whites, rosés, and sparkling wines at prices that make cocktail experimentation easy. Grab a bottle of Tempranillo for sangria, some Prosecco for Bellinis, a dry rosé for frosé, and see where the mixing takes you.