The 'Cocktail of Venice', the Venice Spritz is now in America by Philip S. Kampe

After strolling down Venice’s cobbled streets, visiting museums and doing the tourist thing from sunrise to sunset, the thought of wine and food enters your mind step by step. The tradition in Venice is at 5pm or a little afterwards is to hop into a little café and order the ‘Official’ cocktail of Venice, the Venice Spritz.

The traditional Venice Spritz is composed of white wine, fizzy water and either bitter Campari (dry), iridescent orange-red Aperol (sweeter) or Select (somewhere in-between).

Sometimes Prosecco is used instead of wine and fizzy water. This version enhances the flavor and is a big plus.

According to the bartenders in northern Italy, a Venice Spritz made with Aperol is considered feminine and one made with Campari is considered masculine. Using Select is somewhere in-between.

Recently I was served a bottled version of the Venice Spritz at an event at the Italian Consulates residence in New York. In this case the ‘Italian Cocktail’ was bottled and ready to pour and justly named the ‘Venicespritz’. Sam Ramic, founder of Wine World Wide explained his discovery, Venicespritz, to me.

Venicespritz is made with Glera, the Prosecco grape and is only 6.5% alcohol. The color is similar to that of Aperol, iridescent orange-red. The flavor is reminiscent of the ones that I had in Venice and northern Italy.

As summer approaches, I know the Venicespritz will be my ‘go-to’ drink.
Move over Moscato (last years rage) and Prosecco (the rage in 2011), the ’Venicespritz’ is now in town.

The bottle of Venicespritz is shaped like that of a Prosecco bottle and has a screw-top, a feature that should help keep the fizz in the bottle until it is poured. I am guessing that the Venicespritz is priced similar to Prosecco, which is usually $9-$12.

The distributor and importer of Venicespritz is: Wine Worldwide (845) 255-1955.

On the web, visit: www.Mediterraneanwine.com

Philip S. Kampe

Philip.kampe@thewinehub.com