Classic White Wine Spritzer Recipe: Simple, Bubbly, and Endlessly Refreshing

There’s a reason the white wine spritzer has stuck around for decades: it’s the easiest drink in the book, and it never fails to hit the spot. Crisp white wine meets sparkling water in a ratio that stretches your bottle further while keeping every sip light and refreshing. No shaker, no syrups, no fuss — just a glass, some ice, and two ingredients you probably already have. This classic wine spritzer recipe is the one you’ll come back to all summer long.

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Why This Classic Wine Spritzer Belongs on Your Party Menu

A spritzer solves a real problem: sometimes you want wine, but you don’t want a full glass of it warming up in your hand for an hour. Cutting it with sparkling water keeps things light, keeps the alcohol content lower, and keeps the glass cold and lively from first sip to last.

It’s also one of the few drinks that scales effortlessly for a crowd. Open a couple of bottles, set out the soda water and ice, and let people build their own. There’s no bartending skill required, which makes it a natural fit for backyard get-togethers where you’d rather be mingling than mixing.

And because it’s so simple, the quality of your wine actually shows through. A wine spritzer recipe like this one isn’t hiding a cheap bottle behind sugar and juice — it’s letting a good, crisp white shine while making it a little more mixable. Looking for more ways to work white wine into your glass? Check out our full roundup of white wine cocktails for more inspiration.

Everything You’ll Need

The ingredient list is refreshingly short, and there’s plenty of room to customize it with what you already have on hand.

• 4 oz dry white wine, chilled
• 3 oz sparkling water or club soda, chilled
• 1 lemon slice or twist, for garnish
• Ice cubes

Bottle Picks & Easy Swaps

A dry, crisp white is the classic choice here — something like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, or a light Vermentino. You want a wine with good acidity, since that brightness is what keeps the spritzer from tasting flat once it’s diluted with soda water.

If you’re avoiding alcohol, a dealcoholized Sauvignon Blanc works well, or you can build a similar flavor with white grape juice cut with extra soda water and a squeeze of fresh lemon. For a slightly fizzier, fruitier take, some people swap in a dry sparkling wine instead of still wine — technically that shifts the drink toward a wine cooler, but it’s a popular variation.

Once you’ve got the wine sorted, pour it right — a proper set of white wine glasses keeps the wine cooler for longer thanks to the narrower bowl, and it shows off the bubbles better than a standard tumbler.

Bar Tools You’ll Want

• Wine glass or highball glass
• Bar spoon or regular spoon for stirring
• Jigger or measuring cup, if you like precision
• Citrus peeler or paring knife, for the garnish

This spritzer barely needs any equipment, but if you’re building out a home bar, a 6-Piece Cocktail Shaker Set is a smart one-time buy — the included jigger makes it easy to nail the 4:3 wine-to-soda ratio here, and the rest of the set is ready the next time you want to shake something up. If you’d rather buy the jigger on its own, this cocktail measuring cup does the job just as well.

If you’re going the fruitier route from the variations below, a muddler makes quick work of crushing fresh berries or herbs before you build the drink, and a cocktail strainer keeps any muddled bits out of your glass for a cleaner pour.

Let’s Mix It Up

Once everything is prepped, this cocktail comes together in just a few minutes.

1. Chill your ingredients: Make sure both the wine and the sparkling water are cold before you start — this keeps the drink from watering down as fast.
2. Fill the glass with ice: Use a full glass of ice so the spritzer stays cold without needing a lot of dilution.
3. Pour the wine: Add 4 oz of chilled white wine over the ice.
4. Top with sparkling water: Slowly pour in 3 oz of sparkling water to preserve the bubbles.
5. Stir gently: Give it one or two gentle stirs — just enough to combine without knocking out the fizz.
6. Garnish and serve: Add a lemon slice or twist and serve immediately.

Host’s Tips for the Best Wine Spritzer

Pour the sparkling water last and pour it slowly. Adding it before the wine, or pouring it too fast, knocks out a lot of the fizz you’re going for.

Use big ice cubes rather than small crushed ice. Bigger cubes melt slower, so your drink stays cold without turning watery by the halfway point.

Keep both bottles in the fridge, not just the freezer for a quick chill. A properly cold wine and soda water make a real difference in how crisp the finished spritzer tastes.

If you’re serving a group, set both bottles out with a bowl of ice and let guests build their own glass to taste — some people like it wine-forward, others like it mostly bubbles.

Easy Ways to Make It Your Own

One of the best things about this recipe is how easy it is to tweak for different tastes and occasions.

For a fruitier spritzer, add a splash of elderflower liqueur or a few muddled berries before pouring in the wine. For an herbal twist, drop in a sprig of fresh mint or rosemary along with the lemon. If you want it lighter on the alcohol, use less wine and more sparkling water — there’s no fixed rule that says it has to be even. And for a mocktail version, use a dealcoholized white wine or grape juice with an extra squeeze of lemon to keep the acidity in balance.

Perfect Occasions & What to Serve Alongside

A classic wine spritzer fits almost anywhere a glass of white wine would — brunch, backyard barbecues, baby showers, or a quiet evening on the porch. It’s also a smart pick for daytime events where you want something that feels celebratory without knocking anyone out by 3 p.m.

On the food side, it pairs beautifully with a light cheese board, grilled shrimp, or a simple salad with a citrus vinaigrette. The wine’s acidity plays well against anything bright or slightly salty.

Make-Ahead & Serving Notes

Chill your wine and sparkling water well ahead of time, but hold off on combining them until you’re ready to serve — the bubbles don’t hold up well if the drink sits assembled for long. For a crowd, you can pre-portion wine into a pitcher and keep the sparkling water separate, then combine glass by glass as guests arrive. Leftover spritzer doesn’t store well overnight, since the soda water goes flat, so it’s really a make-and-drink-now kind of cocktail.

Still have a question? Here are a few of the most common ones readers ask before making this wine spritzer.

What is the best wine for a spritzer?

A dry white with good acidity works best — Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and Vermentino are all popular choices. Avoid heavily oaked or very sweet wines, since they can throw off the balance once diluted.

What’s the ratio of wine to soda water in a spritzer?

A common ratio is roughly 60% wine to 40% sparkling water, which is close to 4 oz wine and 3 oz soda water. You can adjust this to taste depending on whether you want it more wine-forward or more bubbly.

Can I make a wine spritzer with red wine?

Yes, though that version is usually called a red wine spritzer rather than a classic spritzer. Light, fruity reds like Beaujolais or a chilled Pinot Noir tend to work best.

Is a wine spritzer the same as a wine cooler?

They’re closely related but not identical. A spritzer is typically wine and plain sparkling water, while a wine cooler often includes fruit juice or a sweetened soda.

How do I keep a wine spritzer from going flat?

Use very cold ingredients, pour the sparkling water gently, and serve the drink right after mixing. Spritzers are meant to be made fresh, not batched too far in advance.

More cocktails worth mixing:

• More white wine cocktail recipes