Wine Cocktails: 50 Stylish Sippers That Show Off Your Reds, Whites, and Roses (50 Series)

And who doesn't love a nice wine cocktail on a hot Florida day. The recipes I have. Tried so far have been good. Good book

it has some good recipes in it, but i was looking for recipes made with ONLY wine as a base and alot of these recipes have hard alcohol in them.

I had printed off two recipes from a newsletter I received. They were delicious and made me want to purchase this book. Turns out they were the best recipes in the book. Any other recipes that I've tried have been disappointing. Then there are some recipes with ingredients I wouldn't purchase. Sorry I bought this.

I like wine. I mean, I like plain wine, not adulterated with other things -though, I expect I'd make an exception for sangria. Because of that opinion, I never would have purchased this book on my own. But now that I read it, I must admit it appeals to me, and I have been experimenting more with wine than I would have thought possible, previously.That said, because I am such a fan of his other two books ("Good Spirits" and "Dark Spirits") I was a little let down -I didn't think this book was as enjoyable as his other ones. Don't buy this book thinking it is part of that collection; it is much smaller and doesn't really go with the others. Instead, I'd say it is a bit of light reading, and might make a good gift for the wine lover who thinks he or she has everything -because they might not have thought of mixing wine with other things before.The book is filled with beautifully photographed drinks. Each one is a delight. (About half of the drinks have photos. More would have been nice, but it is a small book --96 pages.)The drinks DO require a lot of bar materials and freshly squeezed fruit juices. Not likely you'd have many of these ingredients on hand, on any given day, but if you were making them for a party you could probably find them or go through the effort to make them. Come to think of it, many of these drinks would be VERY well suited for parties -off the beaten path, tasty, and different.Recommended as a gift, or if you want to experiment.

First of all WINE COCKTAILS is a visually inviting book. Practically every recipe-- if that's what you call them-- is accompanied by a stunning color photograph so let's drink to the photographer Melissa Punch. Tell me that is not her name! Then we have an informative and witty introduction and several pages of wine cocktail basics by the author. He defines his subject as follows: "Wine cocktails are mixed drinks that include a type of wine as a major ingredient, whether it's red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, dessert wines, or one of wine's more international cousins such as sake." Mr. Rathbun advises the reader to plunge in, as it were, and not be modest if you are not a wine aficionado. You do not necessarily have to buy the most expensive wines but do not go for the cheapest either. (I was reminded that the cooking expert Edna Lewis says that one should never cook with any alcohol he would not drink.) Both qarnishes and ice should be fresh. "This means that using old ice that's been in the freezer next to some frozen broccoli isn't going to add much to your drink (unless you want a drink that echoes a patch of past-due vegetables)." Mr. R. gives further information on glassware, cocktail shakers, knives, etc., and also instructs the reader on how to prepare the best fruit twists, wheels and wedges. And finally perhaps the best advice of all: "Making any kind of drink should be a fun experience, one shard with friends, family or that special someone."Mr. Rathbun includes 50 wine cocktails in this little volume including my two favorites: Kir and Sangria, a drink that can be oh so dreary when made in restaurants. His version looks great. I'll try it when warm weather comes. There are many other offerings that look and sound wonderful: Aloha Punch, Blue Wave and Loire Lemonade-- to name three.Along with notes, the author also has found quotations from authors ranging from William Butler Yeats to Mr. Shakespeare. Mr. Yeats on wine: "Wine comes in at the mouth/And love comes in at the eye;/That's all we shall know for truth/Before we grow old and die." "A Drinking Song."