Our favorite German Summer Coolers

At BottleStops we normally care for wine in their purest unaltered expressions – fermented grapes only, period. Still every once in a while, for a sundowner, for an aperitivo, or without any good reason we enjoy the odd wine-based-drink… a spritzer, a cooler, a punch. They all got a bit of fizz in common (no ‘sprudel’- no fun) – and with that we mostly enjoy them in summer.

summer coolers

The Maibowle is the most German and most seasonal punch, mainly because the must-have ingredient ‘Waldmeister’ (Sweet Woodruff) is indigenous to German forests and best to use before it blooms end of May.  Take a couple of slightly dried leaves of Waldmeister, infuse an off-dry Riesling for a couple of hours, throw in a handful of strawberries, top up with a good shot of ‘Sekt’ and enjoy. Now, depending on whom you ask, there will be tweaks and secret ingredients, a shot of Omi’s special syrup here, a bit of Absinth there – but there’s no getting around Waldmeister, and that’s only in May.

Less seasonal but absolutely fashionable:  Hugo. That’s a Sekt of entrance level quality, well chilled + a good shot of elderflower syrup. That’s it. It’s mostly enjoyed as an aperitivo, and well worth a try.

Finally: Schorle, aka Spritzer in anglo-saxon reigned areas of the world. White wine and seltzer. As simple as this sounds, differences over how this drink is concocted may spark village feuds. The argument quickly starts at the proper glass size which can range from a 0.3 to a 0.5 liter glass – in Rheinhessen called Schoppenglass*, and in Pfalz Dubbeglass*… Further discussions include the type of wine that may or may not be allowed – and certainly the proportions at which one concocts the drink.  We don’t take this to seriously and will pour half a glass of inexpensive wine, top it up with selzer, take a big sip, and top it up again with wine. So much better than beer and very good with barbecue or a football match.

That’s probably as far as we’d like to take you into the world of drinks mixing wine and stuff… Prosit!

* intrinsics of glasses suitable to Schorle are explained here