Plum Sparkle

Anyone who knows me fairly well could tell you that my favorite meal is brunch. Does this have anything to do with the fact that cute, fruity cocktails are served with this meal? Who’s to say?

We all know that the staple brunch drinks are Mimosas, and Bloody Marys, but I like to serve a good brunch drink that you can’t find at every place around town. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fresh Mimosa as much as the next girl, but from time to time, I like to experiment with new ways to enhance the brunch experience.

Bubbles are my go to when making a drink that I can have one or two of without overdoing it, and derailing my plans for the entire day. Picking out sparkling wines is something that took me a little while to figure out. Here’s a little bit of information about my top 3 bubbly choices:

Champagne is a wine that is made in the specific Champagne region of France. Champagne can be made from three types of grapes; white chardonnay, red skinned pinot noir, and pinot meunier. These are used in different quantities depending on the specific champagne, and because of this, there is a lot of variation between champagnes. The favors range from very fruity, to more earthy. This wine is labor intensive, and actually goes through two fermentation processes, which is why it is more pricy. The sweetness/dryness also varies widely.

Brut Nature/Brut Zero: Very dry, no sugar added
Extra Brut: Very dry
Brut: Very dry to dry
Extra-Sec or Extra-Dry: Off-dry to medium dry
Sec: Medium dry
Demi-Sec: Sweet
Doux: Very sweet

Cava is a sparkling wine produced in Spain. The process for making Cava is a lot like that of Champagne, but the cost is less than that of Champagne. The favors in Cava tend to be less fruity, and it is generally a drier wine.

One of my favorite types of sparkling wine is Prosecco. I really love this Italian bubbly in mixed drinks. It’s less pricy then Champagne, because the process of production is less labor intensive. Prosecco is made from the Prosecco grape, and its flavor is fruity, even, and sweet.

For this drink, I used Nierano Prosecco. It has a drier taste, and fruit flavors.

Plum Sparkle– Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Bottle of Prosecco
• 2 Chopped Plums
• 1 Lemon
• 8 Fresh Basil leaves
• 3 Tablespoons Simple Syrup
• A Teaspoon of bitters (Angostura Orange Bitters is what I used)
• Plum slices to garnish
• Basil sprigs to garnish

Instructions:

1. Combine plums, and juice from the lemon (plus a slice of the lemon) in a cocktail shaker. Add simple syrup and bitters, then muddle until all juice has been released from the plums
2. Add basil leaves to the shaker, and gently muddle 4-6  more times, then shake with ice added
3. Add ice drink glasses, and strain the mixture evenly into each glass
4. Top with Prosecco, and add extra plum and basil in glasses to garnish
5. Serve and enjoy!