31 Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Champagne, Cava, and Prosecco
You can call the drink recipes below “Champagne cocktails” if you must. But the truth is, very few of them actually call for Champagne, a name for a specific type of sparkling wine from the region of France known as, uh...Champagne. And while it’s true that “sparkling wine cocktails” doesn’t have quite the same oomph, to label this collection of recipes otherwise does a disservice to the other sparkling wines of the world: Spanish cava, Italian prosecco, German sekt, French crémant and mousseux (terms that refer to sparkling wines made in France but outside of Champagne), and the hundreds of bottles made in America and other wine producing regions that don’t have quite the same name recognition.
So, for the sake of ease and (hopefully!) harmony, we’re going to consider all bubbly white or rosé wines—but bubbly red wines are fair game for future updates, FYI—for this list of sparkling wine drink recipes.
Before you start scrolling, learn how to open a bottle of Champagne to best preserve its character. Hint: If you hear a loud pop, you’re doing it wrong. Then take a minute to watch sommelier André Hueston Mack taste some of the best Champagnes in a variety of price points and pick up a few tips for what to look for when shopping.
Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott1/31Champagne Cocktail
If you can put cream and sugar in your coffee, you can make this classic cocktail. All you do is put a spoonful of sugar (or a sugar cube) in a glass, add a few dashes cocktail bitters, and fill up the glass with brut Champagne.
Photograph by Travis Rainey, Prop Styling by Tim Ferro, Food Styling by Micah Morton2/31Negroni Sbagliato
This Italian drink did exist before Emma D’Arcy came along. The story goes that it’s been around since 1972, in fact. By the way, if you must stir a sparkling cocktail—and it’s true, sometimes you must—do it ever-so-gingerly with a bar spoon.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca3/31Garden Party Super Punch
If you’re looking for the most summery of punches that doesn’t overdo it on the booze, consider it found. Added to tequila, chilled green tea, and sparkling wine, this Super Summer Fruit Syrup becomes the distilled essence of the season.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman4/31French 75
Get out your cocktail shaker, your favorite chilled Champagne, and some gin (plus lemon juice and simple syrup) and you’re on your way to a classic French 75. PS: If you like the French 75, you’ll love the lime-juice-and-white-rum-riff that is the Air Mail cocktail.
Photograph by Suzanne Saroff, food styling by Maggie Ruggiero, prop styling Linden Elstran6/31Golden Hour
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Thu Buser, prop styling by Maggie DiMarco7/31Campari Spritz
This version offers a 3-1-1 ratio that’s so easy that you’ll have it memorized after the first round. In general, a spritz made with Campari will have a drier profile than one with Aperol, but note that while some like theirs sweeter, others prefer it just faintly flavored with the iconic Italian aperitivo. Feel free to adjust.
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Caroline Hwang, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime10/31Aperol-Kombucha Spritz
This is the kind of bitter, tangy, low-alcohol cocktail that works as well as an aperitif as it does in the dog days of summer, in the late afternoon, just before you pack up and head home from the beach.
Photographs by Yudi Ela, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Sophie Strangio11/31Sparkling Wine Cocktail
By adding absinthe to this sparkling wine cocktail—the spirit is higher proof and full of anise and fennel flavors—even the least fancy glass of bubbly feels elegant.
Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by Kat Boystova, prop styling by Allie Wist13/31Hibiscus–Tequila Sparkler
This recipe calls for a Champagne flute, but if you decide to serve it with a small scoop of raspberry sorbet, an optional step (although, is it really?), a coupe glass might work better.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Judy Kim, prop styling by Gerri Williams14/31Lunar New Year’s Lychee Punch
Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott16/31Build a Spritz
Skip the $$$ vintage bubbly for this cocktail. Go with any affordable dry sparkling wine for this choose-your-own-adventure drink recipe.
Christopher Testani17/31Saint-Florent Cocktail
This easy-drinking aperitif—you can use Aperol or Cappelletti, one of the few still-produced wine-based bitter liqueurs—is made slightly more potent with the addition of gin.
Alex Lau18/31Sparkling Grapefruit Cocktail
While you could use any French sparkling wine for this cocktail, if you can find crémant de Bourgogne, snag a bottle. Produced in Burgundy using the traditional Champagne method, its vivacious fruitiness works well with the gin and grapefruit in this drink.
Ted Cavanaugh19/31Sloe Gin Spritz
Sloe gin is a British liqueur made by steeping sloe berries (sour wild plums) in gin with sugar. Mixed with a little prosecco and club soda, it becomes a drink that aligns with our warm-weather drinking philosophy: When in doubt, add bubbles.
Alex Lau20/31Holiday Rum Sparkler
We love this as a Thanksgiving cocktail: Dark rum, apple juice, and honey syrup get shaken and strained into a glass, then topped with Champagne and garnished with an apple slice and a mint sprig.
Alex Lau21/31Blood Orange Sangria
If you can find calamansi juice—or even better, fresh calamansi—go ahead and use it in this drink. For everyone else, we approximated its flavor in this sparking wine cocktail with a mix of other citrus.
Peden & Munk22/31Rosé Spritzer
Champagne glass, be gone. These breezy cocktails are the kind of thing you can drink all afternoon—in a plain old rocks glass. Bonus content: Here’s another simple wine spritzer made with white wine, club soda, bitters, and an orange twist for a garnish.
Ted Cavanaugh23/31St-Germain Spritz
This three-ingredient drink—and one of those ingredients is club soda—inspired one reader to comment, “So refreshing and botanical! Tastes like a lovely, restaurant-quality drink.” If you have trouble sourcing culinary lavender for the garnish, try a sprig of fresh rosemary or a lemon wheel instead.
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Micah Morton, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime25/31Peach-Aperol Spritz
Fizzy peach sangria made with sparkling rosé and a touch of Aperol is a little tangy, a little sweet, and 100% perfect for your next outdoor summer party.
Ted Cavanaugh26/31Cointreau Spritz
Cointreau can be added to a wide variety of cocktails, from margaritas to cosmopolitans to Long Island ice teas to this sparkling wine spritzer, but it can also be drunk neat or on ice.
27/31Pomegranate Champagne Punch
For a wintery, New Year’s Eve-y large-format drink, try this recipe. Its author says her family has “typically used a simple, standard recipe involving lemon juice, triple sec, simple syrup, and Champagne” for winter holiday meals. “Every year, without fail, we run out of the triple sec and I break out the closely hoarded bottle of Cointreau to keep the punchbowl alive.” Then, she wanted to see if white rum would work, and... [CLICK].
29/31Kir Royale
This Kir royale recipe doesn’t take much—just some crème de cassis and sparkling wine—and it goes down almost as easily. Cassis-heads, try this Cassis Spritz too.
30/31Bellini
For a classic Bellini, purée poached peaches until smooth, season it with lemon juice and sugar, and top it with prosecco. Speaking of brunch cocktails, for a classic mimosa, it’s just fresh orange juice and Champagne.
