Tag Archives: champagne

Cocktail Corner: MOM-osas for Mother’s Day!

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Photo vxla on Flickr: Pool-side Mimosas at The Standard Hotel, CC BY 2.0, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Photo vxla on Flickr: Pool-side Mimosas at The Standard Hotel, CC BY 2.0, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! by Leslie Dinaberg 

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, which is the perfect time to indulge in Mimosas. According to new research from Versus Reviews, Mimosas are actually the most popular cocktail in California, as well as in Georgia, North Carolina and Maryland. It must be a coastal thing!

Traditional Mimosas are believed to have been invented at the Hotel Ritz Paris around 1925, and are probably named for their resemblance to the yellow flowers with the same name. They’re made with one part Champagne and one part orange juice and served in a Champagne flute, often at brunch.

Image and data source: Versus Reviews.

Image and data source: Versus Reviews.

Image and data source: Versus Reviews.

Image and data source: Versus Reviews.

While traditional Mimosas are great, there are load of variations. Here are a few favorites, which we’ll call MOM-osas in honor of this weekend:

The Buck’s Fizz, which has twice as much Champagne as orange juice!  

Daphne Oz‘s “Perfect Momosa Recipe” from The Chew, which adds elderflower liquor to the mix and substitutes Prosecco or another sparkling wine for the Champagne.

The Poinsettia switches the orange juice for cranberry juice, mixed with Champagne.

DrinkoftheWeek.com’s tasty MOMosa variation skips the OJ and mixes Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur and passion fruit juice with Champagne.

The Megmosa is equal parts Champagne and grapefruit juice, while pineapple juice and Champagne is called a Soleil.

Summer Mimosa, likely a Soilel variation, photo by waros, pixabay.com.

Summer Mimosa, likely a Soilel variation, photo by waros, pixabay.com.

Our friends at Seagram’s Escapes also have a fun “Momosa” recipe, which uses sparkling wine and their Wild Berry flavored drink.

Whatever you toast your mom with this weekend, make it a good one! Cheers!  Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie believes variety is the spice of life. Send your suggestions to Leslie@sbseasons.com.

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on May 11, 2018.

Cocktail Corner: Cheers to Prosecco

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A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

As Don Ho sings:

Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
In the wine (in the wine)
Make me happy (make me happy)
Make me feel fine (make me feel fine)

OGIO prosecco (courtesy photo)

OGIO Prosecco (courtesy photo)

Just thinking about bubbles makes me smile: bubble baths, Wonder Bubbles, Bubble Up, Champagne and more recently, Prosecco.

I had my first taste of Prosecco just a few years ago, when a friend brought a bottle of Mionetto IL Prosecco to accompany our sushi at one of the summer concerts at El Capitan Canyon.  It was delicious, bubbly and tasted good with potato chips too.

Prosecco—which is an Italian sparkling white wine—is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds these days, particularly with the trendsetting 21-something crowd. According to the beverage industry research website, just-drinks.com, “Growth in sparkling wine of the non-Champagne variety has been a somewhat unheralded success story of the global wines and spirits market during the past ten years, and the product which typifies the sector’s progress—and the star performer to boot—is the northern Italian fizz, Prosecco.”

Unlike many wines, Prosecco is designed to be consumed when it’s young, and the majority of Prosecco is meant to be light and fresh on the palate. Most of it is produced using the less time-consuming Charmat method (refermentation of the base wine in pressurized tanks, as opposed to bottles) and the taste just keeps getting better.

I recently tried a bottle of OGIO Prosecco DOC, which was delicious, light and not overwhelmingly sweet, with fruity notes of peach and green apple. As the company describes it, “an approachable, friendly and easy-to-drink wine for those who want to have a conversation over a glass of wine, not about a glass of wine!” That pretty much fits the bill for me.

In addition to the traditional Bellini, there are loads of other great mixed drinks you can create with Prosecco. Here are a few that would be perfect for a warm spring weekend:

Sgroppino, an Italian cocktail from Giada De Laurentiis, with Prosecco, vodka and lemon sorbet. Fruit Fizz, from Nigella Lawson, combines Prosecco with lemon, mango, raspberry and blackcurrant sorbet (are you sensing a theme here?)

Martha Stewart’s Prosecco Cocktail has Angostura bitters, a liqueur infused with herbs, roots, and bark, and Ruffino Prosecco has an interesting recipe for The Fresco, using Prosecco, cucumbers, lime, hot sauce and sea salt.

Cheers!

Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on April 19, 2013.

Cocktail Corner: Popping the Cork for Mother’s Day

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© Pac | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

© Pac | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

One of my favorite things about Mother’s Day is that it’s a terrific excuse reason to have Champagne for breakfast.

Of course, you can do this anytime you want—and pretty, pretty please invite me over!—but on Mother’s Day, unless you’re visibly pregnant, no one looks at you strangely when you order a bottle of Champagne with your Eggs Benedict (which is a fabulous pairing, by the way).

But here’s an even better reason to toast mom with some bubbly this weekend: new research has just come out that three glasses of Champagne a week can help to improve your memory!

I have to say, this is probably my favorite Mother’s Day gift yet!

As reported by the international edition of The Drinks Business, “Scientists at Reading University say that a regular dose of bubbles can help in the fight against brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

They quote Jeremy Spencer, the biochemistry professor who led the research as saying, “Dementia probably starts in the 40s and goes on to the 80s. It is a gradual decline and so the earlier people take these beneficial compounds in champagne, the better.”

The earlier the better is right! Why wait till Sunday when you can pop that cork right now?

Apparently it’s the phenolic acid in the grapes that provides the memory boost.

This isn’t the first time that Champagne’s health benefits have made the news. Sheknows.com reports that in 2009, research from the British Journal of Nutrition found that champagne has health benefits similar to those often attributed to red wine. “Sipping a few glasses of champagne may lower blood pressure and potentially reduce your risk of stroke and heart disease.”

And as early as 2007, an article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reported findings that identify Champagne as a source of brain protection that may help protect the brain from the injuries common with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and stroke. (www.blogcritics.org)

As if we needed yet another great reason to toast our moms this Mother’s Day, cheers to your health … and your mom!

Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on May 10, 2013.