Is this wine blasphemy?

[Robin Garr]

I opened a California red and found it too big, too frooty, too oaky and too alcoholic to play well with food. So I remembered an old Italian-American trick and cut it with a splash of club soda. MUCH better. Lighter, fresher, more food-friendly. Does this show my smarts, or do I lose my wine snob's license?

Here's another. N/V La Belle Winery Granite State Red (Alcohol level 11.5%). This wine (?) was a Christmas gift and is made from 80% Marechal Foch grapes, 20% Blueberries; no wonder it says on the bottle "other than standard wine." Despite all that it was only half bad. Maybe the oak it was soaked in for four months improved it.

Robin - an alternative would be to mix it with citrus juice and call it Sangria.

Does this show my smarts, or do I lose my wine snob's license?

If you ever had a wine snob's license, then both. Congratulations!

It also works to chill them.

I have found that an ice cube (or 2) will kill two birds with one cube. Both cooling the wine and reducing the alcohol whack.

[Robin Garr]

I have found that an ice cube (or 2) will kill two birds with one cube. Both cooling the wine and reducing the alcohol whack.

True, but the fizzy water adds a little acidity (carbonic, but still), and the bubbles make for a more interesting mouthfeel.

I wouldn't do this to a wine I liked, but it actually worked to ameliorate this particular wine from "undrinkable with food" to "decent for washing down food." I guesstimated a ratio of about two parts wine to one part club soda, which seemed to work out about right.

A “Red Wine Spritzer”, sounds good to me Robin!

Salute

Wein gespritzt was a big deal in the summertime in Austria in 1973, so it's certainly nothing new nor blasphemous. The Austrian version was done with white wine, though. Your red wine version sounds.... er.... interesting.

Mark Lipton

My dad mixes red wine with with Sprite at about 3 to 1. I keep $7 per magnum Lambrusco on hand just for him to use as a mixer. I refuse to validate his behavior by informing him that the leader of the WLDG does something similar.

[Robin Garr]

My dad mixes red wine with with Sprite at about 3 to 1. I keep $7 per magnum Lambrusco on hand just for him to use as a mixer. I refuse to validate his behavior by informing him that the leader of the WLDG does something similar.

I learned it at the dinner table with Italian-immigrant friends in NYC way back in the day, before I was even legal. Jurassic Era. The wine was cheap Italian red - Chianti, I suppose - and the adults got club soda. The kids got 7-Up. I felt very grown-up, but it was probably also a good thing, implanting in me early the idea that wine isn't something to get drunk on but something to enjoy with food, family and friends.

That's where the idea came from the other night, and it probably explains why I wasn't appalled at the very notion.

Well, that, and the fact that the undiluted wine pretty much sucked.

My mother-in-law, now 91 and wheelchair bound, still enjoys her glass of wine but to ensure she never gets to the point of falling out of said wheelchair we now dilute her glass with plain old tap water. You would be surprised by the number of wines that not only tolerate dilution but are actually improved by it. Its never blasphemy to explore the limits of wine, after all there are plenty of rumors about the use of the rubber snake (also black snake) in wine making.

Mike

In my opinion, there is simply no such thing as "wine blasphemy." We may have few actual birthrights but everyone is entitled to their own taste. If you like your wine mixed with diet coke, don't ask me to drink it but if you want it that way, more power to you.

Glenn

[Robin Garr]

If you like your wine mixed with diet coke, don't ask me to drink it but if you want it that way, more power to you.

Blasphemer!

Nah. Good point, Glenn.

Wein gespritzt was a big deal in the summertime in Austria in 1973, so it's certainly nothing new nor blasphemous. The Austrian version was done with white wine, though. Your red wine version sounds.... er.... interesting.

Mark Lipton

Yea, when I lived in Germany---and many times when I traveled back to and through---the gespritze was great for spring and summer consumption. And of course there was Maiwein, laced with woodruff (although I'm now told that woodruff may create problems with people).

I got over the whole snobby wine thing many years ago when I was in Monaco. While sitting in the poor student section of a bistro and watching the rich and stylish folk at the nearby grand cafe, I saw an extremely stylish older gentleman languidly sip his Domaine Tempier Bandol rose', finding it not quite to his satisfaction, and precisely dropping two small ice cubes in it, tasting, smiling, and sitting back happily to enjoy the sunshine.

If you like your wine mixed with diet coke, don't ask me to drink it but if you want it that way, more power to you.

Actually in basque country in mixing red wine with coke has gotten quite popular (the drink is known as a calimocho, or kalimotxo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalimotxo ).

Although initially staunchly opposed to the idea, my girlfriend coerced me into trying it and it turns out its really not nearly as bad as you would think. Definitely not something I would ever do with a nice wine, but if you're dealing with something like a $13 5L box of Franzia Chillable Red (as is not uncommon among starving college students) it could be a reasonably enjoyable way of drinking it - certainly best cold of course.