Grape Juice for Grown Ups

Sometimes, it seems, that the occasional late afternoon calls for a cocktail. Nay, craves a cocktail. This phenomenon is particularly acute in late summer, when afternoons seem hotter than what might be deemed appropriate for polite society. A wine-based cocktail, with grape juice made musky and rich with sweet vermouth, is in order.

Vermouth is a fortified wine, cousins with Port and Sherry. Fortified wines are, essentially, wines to which distilled liquor has been added, killing any active yeast and upping the alcohol content. Vermouth is aromatized with spices and herbs like cinnamon, chamomile and cardamom. Martini and Manhattan drinkers will recognize vermouth as available either dry or sweet; the choice of style depends on the cocktail and the occasion.

I give the following vermouth cocktail recipe as one of those bare cupboard-type fallbacks: it contains only three ingredients (four, if you consider ice an ingredient), all of which are easily kept and often forgotten. White grape juice, made from frozen concentrate, gets all grown-up with a heavy splash of sweet vermouth. The vermouth’s herbal, spicy aromas give a rich complexity to an otherwise very straightforward drink. A squeeze of fresh lime juice, a hearty shake, and you’re all set to go.

Thanks to its extra dose of liquor, vermouth will not oxidize quickly, and will store for a long time in your kitchen cabinet – patiently waiting for the next hot afternoon’s craving for a cool drink.

Grown Up Grape Juice (Or, Sweet Vermouth Grape Cocktail)

1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth
1/3 cup white grape juice
juice from 1/2 lime

In a short glass, pour vermouth over ice. Top off the glass with the grape juice, and squeeze in the lime. Using another glass, vigorously shake the cocktail to blend well. (You might like to do this over the kitchen sink.)

Carefully remove the shaker from your glass. Beware the tasty foam. Drink up.

Tags: sweet vermouth, wine cocktail