Kalimotxo
ClassicRed wine and cola. The Basque Country's unpretentious answer to a bad bottle.
Sweet, cold, and simple — cola's caramel and fizz soften the wine's tannin and acidity into something closer to a soda than a glass of wine. Deliberately unfussy; the appeal is refreshment, not complexity.
Ingredients
- 4 oz Red Wine
- 4 oz Cola
- Lemon wheel · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Fill a highball glass with cubed ice.
- 2
Pour in the red wine and cola in equal parts.
- 3
Stir briefly to combine.
- 4
Garnish with a lemon wheel.
The Story
The Kalimotxo (Basque *kalimotxo*, from a rider's nickname combined with the word for wine) emerged in the Basque Country in the late 1970s, reportedly born at a festival where a batch of red wine turned out too poor to drink on its own — cola was added to rescue it, and the combination stuck. It has since become a genuine regional institution across northern Spain, drunk cold and cheap rather than treated as a cocktail-bar curiosity, precisely because it was never meant to be one.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
