The waning days of summer are a good excuse for adding a little sunshine to your glass for a festive brunch or sundowner picnic with a classic Mimosa cocktail of sparkling wine and orange juice.
It’s hardly a hassle to mix up one part sparkling wine to one part orange juice, but Robertson Winery has made it even easier with its new ready-to-go Mimosa Sparkling Spritzer.
Ready-made means it’s easily portable for picnics or camping, and the bottle boasts an innovative reusable “zork” that reseals to keep the bubbles fresh (and makes the bottle handily reusable for your own future bubbly creations too).
Put to the test at a brunch with friends over the Easter weekend, it proved a great companion to fresh fruit, bacon, eggs, pastries and cheeses — light, bright and refreshingly citrusy, with the sweetness of the orange balanced by the dry sparkling wine with its classic touch of biscuitiness.
Lively and vibrant, it’s not “bone dry”, so can easily be enjoyed by those who prefer their sparkle on the sweeter side.
As a zesty spritzer, it will happily grace a casual get-together or special celebration, and the fact that it’s easily portable and hassle-free to just open, enjoy and reseal, is a bonus.
If you’d rather make your own, a proper Champagne or Cap Classique would be a bit of a waste for mixing with orange juice, but a good quality sparkling wine will do the job perfectly.
Robertson Winery has a good selection of dry and sweet sparkling wines, or look to brands such as JC le Roux (their sauvignon blanc sparkling would work well), Durbanville Hills or Swartland for good value.
The sweeter-toothed can be served with a sweet or semi-sweet bubbly instead of dry, and there’s also a wide range of non-alcoholic bubbles available for those abstaining.
Change things up for an Italian vibe with an Andiamo spritzer or mixing the orange juice with Prosecco, or vary the citrus with blood orange, naartjie or grapefruit, a splash of pomegranate or a drop of an orange liqueur.
Whether it’s the Robertson Mimosa or your own creation, the drink pairs with a wide variety of brunchy and other foods — avo toast, smoked salmon, charcuterie, creamy scrambled eggs, croissants and buttery pastries, French toast, fresh fruit salads, soft cheeses ... the limit is your imagination.
The Robertson Mimosa is widely available at various retailers, priced from R85 (Makro) to R99 (PnP, Checkers).
The Herald
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