Summer Red Wine Cooler (Tinto de Verano)
Chilled young red wine mixed half and half with fizzy lemon soda, poured over plenty of ice. Light, bubbly and endlessly refreshing on a hot Spanish afternoon.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Chill everything well
Put the bottle of wine and the lemon soda in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving, or use ones that are already very cold. This matters more than any other step: a lukewarm turns watery fast as the ice melts into it.
- 500 ml red wine
- 500 ml lemon soda
✅ Done when: both the wine and the soda feel icy cold to the touch
Fill the glasses with ice
Take 4 wide tumblers and fill each one right to the top with ice cubes. Using plenty of ice, not just a few cubes, keeps the drink cold without needing to add more later and diluting it.
- about 2 cups ice cubes
✅ Done when: each glass is packed full of ice
Pour in the wine
Pour the chilled red wine over the ice in each glass, filling them about halfway.
- 500 ml red wine
Top with lemon soda
Top up each glass with an equal amount of cold lemon soda, so you end up with roughly a 1:1 mix of wine and soda. Pour it gently down the side of the glass to keep as many bubbles as possible.
- 500 ml lemon soda
Garnish and serve
Tuck a lemon slice and a sprig of mint into each glass, stir once very gently with a long spoon just to combine, and serve right away while it is still fizzing.
- 1 lemon, sliced
- a few sprigs fresh mint
Chill everything well
Put the bottle of wine and the lemon soda in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving, or use ones that are already very cold. This matters more than any other step: a lukewarm turns watery fast as the ice melts into it.
- 500 ml red wine
- 500 ml lemon soda
✅ Done when: both the wine and the soda feel icy cold to the touch
Fill the glasses with ice
Take 4 wide tumblers and fill each one right to the top with ice cubes. Using plenty of ice, not just a few cubes, keeps the drink cold without needing to add more later and diluting it.
- about 2 cups ice cubes
✅ Done when: each glass is packed full of ice
Pour in the wine
Pour the chilled red wine over the ice in each glass, filling them about halfway.
- 500 ml red wine
Top with lemon soda
Top up each glass with an equal amount of cold lemon soda, so you end up with roughly a 1:1 mix of wine and soda. Pour it gently down the side of the glass to keep as many bubbles as possible.
- 500 ml lemon soda
Garnish and serve
Tuck a lemon slice and a sprig of mint into each glass, stir once very gently with a long spoon just to combine, and serve right away while it is still fizzing.
- 1 lemon, sliced
- a few sprigs fresh mint
The Story Behind the Dish
Tinto de verano grew out of simple necessity: on hot southern afternoons, bar patrons wanted a way to make an ordinary glass of red wine lighter, colder and longer-lasting. Mixing it with fizzy lemon soda and plenty of ice did exactly that, and the drink spread from local bars across the whole country.
It is now one of the most ordered drinks in Spanish bars during the warm months, often outselling sangría among locals, who tend to see sangría as more of a tourist drink.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It is cheap, easy to make, low in alcohol compared to straight wine, and endlessly thirst-quenching in summer heat.
💡 Fun Fact
In Spain, tinto de verano is usually ordered by name at the bar and arrives already mixed in a tall glass, rather than being made at the table like sangría.
Andalusia, Spain
37.39°N, -5.98°W
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