What is a spritz?
A spritz is a cold wine drink made longer with bubbles. The rest is a choice of scent.
Wine is the point
If you take the wine out and leave the syrup, you do not have a spritz. You have a cooler. The recipes on Easy Spritz keep prosecco, still wine, rosé, or a dry alcohol-free sparkling as the largest pour.
The name is tied to the old habit of spraying wine with sparkling water so a glass lasted through a hot afternoon. Bitter aperitivos and elderflower came later, and they are why a spritz can be orange, red, or pale green.
The family
The white wine spritz is the plain ancestor. The Aperol-style spritz is bitter orange in a 3-2-1 ratio. The Hugo Spritz is elderflower, mint, and lime. Limoncello, red bitter, and grapefruit are variations with their own ratios, because sweetness and bitterness are not interchangeable.
A sbagliato-style glass sits at the edge of the family: prosecco and red bitter, but vermouth instead of soda. It is listed with the bitter recipes so you can see the difference before you build one.
What a spritz is not
It is not a spirit highball. Gin and tonic, a Negroni, and a spritz can share a bitter bottle and still be different drinks. It is also not a blended frozen drink. Ice goes in the glass. The fruit, if there is any, is a slice or a light press.
Build one in the builder if you would rather start from a bottle than from a name.
Questions people ask
What is in a spritz?
Cold wine or dry sparkling wine, ice, and usually soda. Many versions add a bitter aperitivo, elderflower, or citrus, plus a garnish.