“I don’t like wine,” said my friend Maria. “It tastes sour, like vinegar. But I do like wine cocktails!”   As much as I love wine, the idea of making a cocktail with it seems a waste of good wine.   However, there is much more to making cocktails with wine than putting gin in it like one guy did on a date saying “I know you like wine but it doesn’t do much, so here” as he poured gin into my red wine which I was enjoying with my steak just fine. Wine as a component might also offer a lower alcohol alternative to a more powerful drink– just the opposite of what that long ago date wanted.

While I can follow a recipe to make a cocktail, I’m not too great at creating them, and so usually I just stick with wine because usually I’m enjoying my adult beverage with food, and wine and food are so wonderful together.

Fortunately, my fellow Wine Predator Sue Hill is an excellent mixologist, and so when I fell in love with this Vermut Flores following a twitter tasting about Uruguayan wines, and suggested we do some cocktails for a pre-New Year’s post using it as well as organic Corvezzo‘s Prosecco and Pinot Grigio, she was enthusiastic and creative combining the wines with the Flores Vermut and herbs from my garden in inspiring ways. 

Beverages 

• Corvezzo Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC
• Corvezzo Prosecco DOC Rosé Extra Dry Millesimato
• Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth 
• Ventura Spirits Wilder Gin 
• Campari 
• Pellegrino Organic Orange Soda 

Dessert

• Sue’s Homemade Spiced Persimmon Cake 

“Being 100% organic is a mission! Will you help us attain this aim?” asks Giovanni Corvezzo of Corvezzo Winery which was started by his grandfather in the early 1960s.

With all of Corvezzo’s 380 acres organically farmed, it’s one of Italy’s largest sources of organic Glera and Pinot Grigio. Size keeps prices down: Giovanni feels organic products should be “democratic” saying “I buy organic products every day for me and my family. So, when I decided to become an organic farmer, I wanted to offer a certified wine without tripling prices.” 

Whether cocktails or wine, what you drink is a choice, and here at Wine Predator as we celebrate the New Year, we hope you will choose beverages made from produce grown sustainably, organically, regeneratively. 

Unless it’s a new vineyard or one that’s been fallow for many years, going organic isn’t easy: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” says owner Giovanni Corvezzo on the transition to organic production.

When Corvezzo made the seven-year transition from conventional to organic farming, vines unused to an herbicide- and pesticide-free environment decreased production dramatically they report. Today his Glera and Pinot Grigio vines adapted to be stronger with abundant yields and better fruit, reporting that “Skins are thicker, and this helps wines develop better aromas. For this reason, I believe that organic grapes have the potential to generate superior wines.” Bonus: Those thicker skins protect fruit from rain and parasites as well as increasing character.

Giovanni’s grandparents founded the winery in 1960 in the Veneto between the Dolomites and the Adriatic Sea. Their sons in the second generation expanded acreage and experimented, then introduced strip cultivation and banned synthetic herbicides. In 2009, Giovanni, in the third generation, took the next step by transitioning to organic viticulture; today the winery is certified vegan as well. Because Corvezzo is certified fully organic in Europe and wines are made from a mix of estate and grower fruit, Giovanni Corvezzo shares knowledge about organic viticulture with growers. Giovanni is looking at chalk to replace copper sulphate to fight mildew in the vineyard as he seeks “to be even more sustainable” considering next biodynamics. A photovoltaic plant reduces their carbon footprint, and a biomass plant produces thermal energy from pruning waste. 

Corvezzo Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC

ABV: 12%
SRP: $13
Grapes:  Pinot Grigio
Importer: Origins Organic Imports 

This is a Pinot Grigio that we can get behind. Bonus is that the grapes are organic, and the price won’t break the bank. While the bottle says to serve at 55 degrees, ours was a bit warmer and still wonderful. Can be used in a cocktail, but very nice on its own. 

Appearance: Pale yellow 

Aroma: Honeysuckle, sweet florals, fennel 

Palate: Lime, fennel, chamomile, pear, fresh and clean, minty finish, nice acidity

Cocktail: The lemongrass and the mint take this cocktail to an amazing level. Sue went with the lemongrass and the mint as a garnish because there were so much of these characterstics  in the wine. John enjoyed this cocktail so much; he said it was almost like drinking spa water. The lemon grass and the mint were a perfect compliment to the wine. I was sitting next to a loaf of persimmon bread while enjoying the cocktail, and it brought out the aromas of the spices in the bread so nicely. 

Directions: 

• Fill a tall slender glass with ice.
• Add 1 one ounce shot of Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth
• Top with Pinot Grigio.
• Garnish with a sprig of mint and a stalk of lemon grass.

Corvezzo Prosecco DOC Rosé Extra Dry Millesimato

ABV:  11.5%
SRP: $13
Grapes:  85% Glera, 15% Pinot Noir
Importer: Origins Organic Imports 

Appearance: Rose gold, very golden in the light

Aroma: Earth, wild strawberry, plum, orchard after a rain, a hint of florals, touch of cinnamon, 

Palate: Very nice on its own, great cocktail wine, pleasant mouthfeel, easy to drink, rose water rose petal up front, clean and fresh, fruit finish, 

Pairing: Great brunch, or lunch wine. 

Cocktail: We chose to pair the wine with the Vermut Flores Rose Dry Vermouth with a touch of rosemary and purple basil. Light and refreshing, floral and herbal. Light and refreshing, nice bright fruit of raspberry and cherry, John did not think this tasted like a cocktail and more like a vitamin water. Very nice greeter cocktail. Won’t knock your socks off but will be a wonderful glad you are here cocktail. Very grounded herbal and earthy. John felt like it would be a refreshing summer drink. Great pool side sipper. 

Directions:  

• Fill a tall slender glass with ice.
• Add 1 one ounce shot of Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth 
• Top with Corvezzo Prosecco Rosé
• Garnish with sprigs of rosemary and purple basil. 

Basta Spirit Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth 

ABV:  16%
SRP: $16
Grapes: Rosé of Tannat
Importer: 

On a base of pink Tannat, this Vermouth includes 27 botanicals of roots, barks, herbs, fruit, rose, hop, chamomile and elderflower made in a fourth generation artisanal family winery crafted and infused in small batches.

Appearance: Pink, rose pink with a touch or orange, rose corral, gold, peach

Aroma:  Roses, celery seed, cooking sage, poultry spice, clove,

Palate:  sage, cranberry, fennel, orange bitters, orange peel and cloves,  sage, carnation, there is such a floral element to this vermouth on the palate

Cocktail: We mixed Vermut Flors Rose Dry Vermouth with  San Pelllegrino Aranciata and garnished it with an orange slice, orange rind, and lavender. This a sweeter drink but not too sweet. This is a very thirst quenching drink. Like drinking an orange soda with a taste of alcohol. 

Directions: Uruguayan Aranciata Sunset 

• Fill a tall slender glass with ice.
• Add 1 one ounce shot of Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth 
• Top with San Pellegrino Organic Aranciata (orange).
• Garnish with a slice of an organic orange slice, spirals of orange rind, and a sprig of lavender.

We also mixed a Negroni using this Vermouth. We used Wilder Gin from our local Ventura Spirits  Distillery which has so much of our local mountain chaparral on the palate. We paired the Negroni with Persimmon Cake that Sue made and found the pairing to be so amazing. We heard that Ventura Spirits is doing a persimmon brandy which would also work really well with the bread. What a perfect end of the evening to have this bread with a lovely cocktail. 

Directions: Sue’s Sunset Negroni 

• 1 oz vermouth Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth 
• 1oz Campari
• 1 1/2 oz Wilder gin
• Garnish with orange rind and an orange wheel.

Directions: Negroni Rosé Sbagliato

• 1 oz Vermut Flores Rosé Dry Vermouth 
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Corvezzo Rosé Prosecco
• Garnish with an orange wheel.