🍷 Kalimotxo

Kalimotxo is a Basque drink: red wine mixed half and half with cola. It appeared in the Basque Country, in northern Spain, in the 1970s. It is served over ice, sometimes with a slice of lemon, in a large glass or tumbler.

The drink is said to have been born at a local festival when good wine ran short. A simple young red wine was mixed with cola, and the result was light, sweet and refreshing. Since then kalimotxo has been drunk at festivals, in bars and outdoors, especially in hot weather. An inexpensive wine is used for it: quality is not needed here.

Spain has other similar drinks. Tinto de verano is red wine with fizzy lemonade, popular in the south. Both are wine cocktails and kinds of mixed wine drink, not wine in the strict sense.

Kalimotxo belongs to Spanish wine as part of everyday drinking culture. It is a mixture, not wine strictly speaking. It has less alcohol than pure wine but remains an alcoholic drink for adults.