Upon returning from a trip to Spain, a friend of mine screamed at a college tailgate "KALIMOTXO!" before presenting us with red wine that she then, to our horror, mixed with Coca-Cola. Once, after hearing a fellow editor at a press dinner years ago rant about how young people in China were mixing very expensive red wine and Coke, I mentioned to her that it seemed like a wealthy take on the popular Spanish (and Latin American, and Eastern European...you get the gist) cocktail. She looked like she was about to pass out. To stop you from being *that* person, here's a basic guide to kalimotxo—and why you should try it.What It Is Simply stated, it's red wine and coke. It's generally served over ice in short glass tumblers. Sometimes, it's served with lime. The mix is supposed to be 50% Coke and 50% wine, but like with everything, sometimes you get a bartender who 1) doesn't know how to make the proper drink or 2) feel like they're doing you a favor by giving you more booze. Depending on what country you're in, there might also be other additions—like blackberry liqueur–or substitutions, like orange soda instead of cola.

Where It Came FromThe drink originated in Spain, though other countries (including a big part of Eastern and Central Europe) drink the same cocktail. The name can be traced back to the 1970s, when the popular name "rioja libre" was overtaken by "kalimotxo," a combination of two nicknames. good wine sweet tasteIn some parts of Spain, it's commonly spelled as "calimocho" (basically, to help with pronunciation confusion). best wine for seafood dinnerWhat It Tastes Like The original idea of mixing the two beverages was, essentially, to mask bad red wine. what is the best wine on a dietSo really, you're tasting a lot of coke with a little bit of a wine aftertaste. best red wine for cold weather

In fact, that's generally the origin story of the drink—that in 1972, as part of the Puerto Viejo festivities, servers noticed the wine they were serving wasn't good, so they tried to cover up the sour taste with something they had on hand—cola. beer and wine healthAnd kalimotxo was born. best italian box wineIf you need more info/incentive, you can watch these people drink it for the first time. Now go forth and spread the kalimotxo gospel. (If anything, it makes for popular bar banter.) Follow Marie Claire on Instagram for the latest celeb news, pretty pics, funny stuff, and an insider POV. The Quick and Dirty Way to Make an Old Fashioned Cocktail 40 Summer Cocktail Recipes You Can Make at Home Drink History: What Is a Sour and How, Exactly, Is It Made? 20 Vodka Cocktail Recipes You Need in Your Arsenal

15 Valentine's Day Cocktails Built for Two 10 Women in Wine Give Their Budget-Friendly Vino Recs 3 Healthy Holiday Cocktails You'll Actually Want to Make 100 Christmas Cocktail and Drink Recipes to Get You in the Holiday Spirit The Drinking Woman's Guide to Winter Beers We're Bringing Eggnog Back: 8 Recipes That Are Totally Worth Trying This WinterIf I say “wine” and “cocktail,” most Americans will jump immediately to one thing: Sangria. In fact, they might even exclaim something like this: “Woohooo, sangria!” No discussion of wine cocktails can truly begin until we discuss sangria. So I may as well start with a full confession: I do not like sangria. In fact, I do not like it so much that I actually may have put together an ebook on wine cocktails simply in order to convince people to leave their lame old sangria behind. But soon enough, I realized this was silly on my part. I mean, who am I to tell you not to drink sangria? If you happen to like soggy fruit soaked in cheap wine, by all means, enjoy yourself.

My problem with sangria is two-fold. First, it’s almost always made incorrectly. For the record, sangria is not simply chopped fruit dumped into wine. No, true sangria should always have a significant portion of brandy and also possibly a small amount of liqueur. Ask what they put in your sangria at your local happy hour and most likely it will make you sad. Meanwhile, sangria is sold to us as something that clichéd “hot-blooded” Spaniards slurp down like water during long Spanish summers. This is stretching the truth. In Spain, tourists drink sangria. It was actually introduced to Americans at the World’s Fair in New York in 1964. In reality, Spanish people drink a whole panoply of wine and soda cocktails, but generally not sangria. Planet of the Grapes Vol. 3: Wine Cocktails, featuring more than 40 recipes from top mixologists, is available now on Amazon from Smart Set Press Now that we’ve got the sangria issue out of the way, why don’t we focus on what people really drink in Spain.

There is actually a whole milieu of wine-plus-soda cocktails that Spanish people enjoy. In fact, you might even say there is — using the term very loosely — a tradition of enjoying basic cocktails that are simply a mix of Rioja wine and soda (usually Coca-Cola, Sprite, or 7-UP). The most famous — or infamous — is the Calimocho, equal parts red wine and Coca-Cola, served in a tall glass over ice, with or without a squeeze of lemon. This is a sort of “poor man’s sangria,” and still popular among young drinkers. It’s also known as Kalimotxo in Basque Country (where it was invented) and had been known as a Rioja Libre during the 1970s. The Calimocho is a surefire way to scandalize the serious wine aficionados in your life. Which is always fun. Once, at a little get-together, I opened a decent bottle of Rioja, poured some into a highball glass filled with ice, then topped it with an equal measure of Coca-Cola. Those watching were aghast. “That’s like a hobo drink,” said my friend Erin.

Wine and Coca-Cola is a surprisingly delicious concoction, especially on a hot afternoon. The oaky tempranillo stands up to the Coke, and it’s a perfect use of what remains in the bottle from the night before. Call it a guilty pleasure or a dirty secret, but Coke with a big, fat red wine can be pretty satisfying. The Calimocho, however, isn’t the only popular wine-and-soda libation in Spain. Add Sprite or 7-UP to the red wine instead of Coke and you have a Tinto de Verano — or “summer red wine.” Sometimes, bartenders add a splash of rum, or maybe a citrus slice, but the Tinto de Verano is generally simple, and tasty. From there, if you add fino or manzanilla sherry, instead of red wine, to the 7-Up or Sprite, you’ll have a light, refreshing drink called a Rebujito. (Sometimes this drink is misidentified as a sherry cobbler, but a rebujito is much simpler, with no muddled fruit). These wine-plus-soda cocktails are all ridiculously simple to make, but they also provide a template for creating drinks that are slightly more creative and complex.

To that end, I’ve called on my good friend Oscar Diez, a bartender in Toro, Spain, to give me his takes on the classic wine-plus-soda cocktails. Though Toro is a small town of 10,000 people, there are over 100 bars in town, and people come to Oscar’s bar, Discoteca Q, from miles around. And why wouldn’t they: Oscar has won numerous mixology awards in Spain, including one for “Best Gin Tonic” in a country that has elevated this drink to an art form. What follows here are Oscar’s takes on the three classic wine-plus-soda cocktails, plus another that’s a surprising, wine-y take on the caipirinha. This fancified version of the classic Calimocho adds Grand Marnier to the mix for more complexity. A tempranillo wine with some oak aging works best, so look for crianza rather than joven. ½ ounce Grand Marnier 2 ounces tempranillo wine, preferably crianza 3 to 4 ounces Coca-Cola In a large wine glass filled with 4 or 5 large ice cubes, add the Grand Marnier, then the red wine, then the Coca-Cola.

Add orange peel and lime wheel, and stir gently. From Oscar Diez of Discoteca Q in Toro, Spain This is a rendition of the classic Tinto de Verano. Use a young or joven tempranillo wine for this one. 2 ounces tempranillo wine, preferably joven ¾ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice 3 to 4 ounces Sprite or 7-Up Orange and lime wheels In a large wine glass filled with 4 or 5 large ice cubes, add the lime juice, then the wine, then the lemon-lime soda. Add orange and lime wheels, and stir gently. Most renditions of this drink have some kind fruit added or muddled. This is garnished with mint instead, which heightens the aromatics in the sherry and gives the drink a crisper, fresher quality. 2 ounces fino or manzanilla sherry 4 ounces Sprite or 7-Up In a wine glass filled with 4 to 5 ice cubes, add the sherry, then top with lemon-lime soda. Garnish with mint sprig, and stir gently. A red take on the famed caipirinha, with tempranillo wine and brandy instead of cachaça.