9 best cocktail recipes for Christmas lunch and dinner: how to prepare the perfect aperitif

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One of the first things to think about when organizing the Christmas menu is the aperitif. Before every recipe, every dessert and seafood salad is necessary that the aperitif, with which to welcome and put guests and relatives at ease, is ready and well frozen.

Instead of the usual sparkling wines, we will serve great sparkling cocktails. Keep reading and you’ll find a nice list of sparkling Christmas cocktails made with Champagne, Cava, Spumante Metodo Classico or even Prosecco. You don’t have to splurge and they are all very fragrant and lively, perfect for breaking the ice and opening the dances of Christmas Eve or warm-up every winter party.

The preparation of these aperitifs is straightforward. You don’t need the shaker or even the acrobatic skills of Tom Cruise, keep an eye on the doses and you will make good elegant Christmas cocktails. You can also make these aperitifs on the spot and serve them immediately, or if you are busy, prepare them in a jug and then serve them at the right time. They are listed in order of increasing alcohol content.

A small note: all sparkling cocktails are best prepared in large quantities, so do not skimp and prepare a table for the aperitif with well-cooled carafes and shining glasses. Avoid using ice cubes that melt very quickly: you can freeze a plastic bottle full of water, cut the plastic, split the piece of ice in half with your flaming dragon punch, and use it to cool the cocktail in a jug.

Mimosa or Buck’s Fizz

Let’s start with the most famous sparkling cocktail of all, the Mimosa, which happens to be very easy to prepare and is also in season, given that the oranges in this period are exquisite. Sparkling wine and orange juice gently stirred. But beware of the names: Mimosa and Buck’s Fizz are the same cocktail, only the doses change. Prepare it directly in giant jugs and then serve it in the glasses. Here is the recipe for the king and the queen of aperitifs!

Skill level: you do not need the Harry Potter wand. Even a baboon without hands would be able to make this fabulous Christmas aperitif.

Availability of ingredients: easy.

Rossini

Strawberries are not in season, so we are reticent to recommend it, but it’s a great drink, so it’s on you. If you find excellent strawberries nectar, don’t hesitate and mix the ultimate Rossini, especially if you want to amaze the ladies.

Skill level: easy, but if you want to make a great impression, dress up as Jack Sparrow and open the bottle of Champagne with a saber.

Availability of ingredients: tricky, strawberry nectar is not immediate to make.

Spritz

The Spritz cocktail is always welcome if you don’t have too many pretensions. Maybe try the one with the Cynar for a more original variant. If you want to offer it a full-meal drink, use Campari, less sweet and more full-bodied. Spritz doesn’t have to be cheap: if you use a great bitter and decent wine, you’ll make an excellent aperitif. Spritz recipe.

Skill level: Even Albuquerque’s bowling club knows how to do it.

Availability of ingredients: cakewalk.

Bellini

Let’s create the mythical Cipriani’s drink: sparkling wine and peach nectar. The same goes for Rossini, we are out of season, but peach nectar is not a chimera. Mix 5 cl of peach nectar and 10 cl of sparkling wine: easy peasy. Bellini recipe.

Skill level: be careful not to kill your grandpa with the wine cork!

Availability of ingredients: not immediate, but you can find good nectars with a bit of patience.

Negroni Sbagliato

Negroni Sbagliato is the undisputed protagonist of every aperitif, its complex and the mix of herbaceous and sweet suggestions given by Campari and sweet vermouth is impressive. Add a rocky sparkling wine like Trentodoc or Cava and you will have a great drink, suitable for a thousand dishes, from blinis with smoked salmon to spaghetti with clams. Here’s the “wrong recipe” if you want to try it.

Skill level: in a jug with ice menhirs, remember that the ratio of the ingredients is always 1/3 of each (sparkling wine, bitters and sweet vermouth).

Availability of ingredients: a legend says there is a place where fountains dispense wine, bitter and vermouth…

Kir Royal

If you want your Christmas aperitif to be unforgettable, prepare yourself to make the king of sparkling cocktails: the Kir Royal. Champagne and crème de cassis, the famous blackcurrant liqueur of French origin. If Mimosa is sunny, fresh and lively, the Kir represents the dark side: mysterious, persuasive, mystical. Here is the original Kir Royal recipe.

Skill level: just uncork, dose, pour and then enjoy the drink.

Availability of ingredients: medium, the crème de cassis is not easy to find, but it deserves a place of honor in your bar.

Heidi

We are very proud of this cocktail that we invented some time ago. As an alcoholic base, we have pink Champagne (rosé), gin and a few drops of absinthe, but its peculiarity is the aromas that rise to the nose and wrap it in an irresistible spiral. The Heidi recipe.

Skill level: is it difficult for a magician to extract a rabbit from the cylinder?

Availability of ingredients: standard.

Champagne cocktail

The grand old, this is the Moby Dick of the aperitif. The sparkling cocktail that has made history and from which erupted many variations and innovations in the field of cocktails: the Champagne Cocktail. Do it the old way: sugar in the glass, a few drops of angostura, an orange peel and then Champagne. Here is the original recipe with doses and ingredients.

Skill level: medium. Pay attention to the doses.

Availability of ingredients: show me the money.

French 75

The French 75 is a myth not only as a cocktail. Think that it takes its name from a piece of French artillery. And with such a valorous name, even the taste can only be strong, to the limit of the heroic. Seriously it’s an exceptional cocktail. Try it. Here is the recipe.

Skill level: novice alchemist with the eye patch.

Availability of ingredients: no need to spend follies, lemon and gin, make shine also humble Champagne. Also try a good Cava, Prosecco, Cremant d’Alsace.