3 Holiday Cocktails to Try Now

Throwing a Christmas Eve soiree? New Year’s do? Or hosting on the big day itself? No matter what event you’re having the chances are you’ll have stocked up on plenty of wine. But before you go pouring out those glasses of Chardonnay, Merlot, and Pinot Grigio why not do something a little different this year by whipping up some classy cocktails? All the following recipes each contain wine, of course you could make non-alcoholic ones as well, and are guaranteed to be the belle of the ball. You could even create a range of canapé style tasting shots for your guests and ask them to vote on their favourite!

Christmas Mulled Wine

It just doesn’t feel like Christmas until you’ve had your first glass of mulled wine and a mince pie does it? This one’s a classic and a real crowd pleaser so feel free to experiment with different spices, flavours of wine and sweetness levels. To make it you’ll need a good bottle of red wine, nothing too expensive as the alcohol is going to be reduced, half an orange, half an apple, 60g of Demerara sugar, a dried bay leaf and a pinch of nutmeg. As well as a cinnamon stick, 60ml of blackberry sloe gin and a sprig of ivy. Drain the bottle of wine into the saucepan and add the sugar, orange, apple bay leaf and spices then heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Try a spoonful then adjust sweetness level as you wish. Remove from the heat and add in the gin, strain into glasses, tie a sprig of ivy to the stem of each glass and serve.

It Was On A Starry Night

Celebrate the holidays in style with this rum infused creamy vanilla cocktail with hints of fruit and crisp, sweet Chardonnay. This is served best in a highball glass, one of the tall ones, and uses two oz Chardonnay, or any medium sweet white wine, one oz of dark rum, half an ounce of vanilla bean syrup and pineapple juice. For a more organic taste use a vanilla pod when making the syrup and freshly squeezed juice. If you’re worried about where to buy wine,

join us to buy wines online here or visit your local wine merchant. Pop your ingredients into the cocktail shaker, strain and finish with a wedge of zesty lime before giving to your guests.

Princess Peach

This cocktail has a lovely golden glow to it and it’s super simple to make at the same time so you’ll soon be back out of the kitchen and chatting with your guests. Firstly, you’ll need to make a sugar syrup, which sounds harder than it is, just combine equal amounts of hot water and sugar together, for this recipe you only need half an ounce, and stirring all the time until the sugar has dissolved. Then take an an oz of Gin, sweet white wine, lemon juice and half an ounce of peach schnapps and mix in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Strain and serve into champagne flutes with just a sprinkle of edible glitter on top.

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