This light and refreshing white wine spritzer is made with bright lemon juice and basil simple syrup. The ultimate cocktail for happy hour on the deck or backyard entertaining!

As a food writer, I am always finding inspiration for my cocktail recipes. Whether it’s traveling to a new city, dining in a trendy restaurant or having drinks at a new bar, I find inspiration everywhere I go. Inevitably, I always find myself gravitating towards cocktails that are light, refreshing and effervescent.

One of my go-to recipes lately is my lemon basil white wine spritzer. If you’re wanting to try a new, refreshing drink, I’ve got you covered.

You can prepare white wine spritzers in a few different ways. If you’re hosting a large number of guests, use a pitcher and mix the ingredients to create a batch. If you’re serving a few people, you may want to serve by the glass.

Creating the Basil Simple Syrup

First, place the sugar and water in a small pot and bring them to a boil. Second, remove the pot from the heat until sugar dissolves. Next, add basil and let it cool to room temperature. Remove the basil leaves before you serve the syrup.

Serving Lemon Basil White Wine Spritzers by the Glass

First, if you want to add optional garnishes, prep the basil leaves. Basil is a beautiful, deep green color and has an appealing, herbaceous flavor.

Second, add the basil to each glass. Feel free to get creative with this recipe — I love to add fun, bright straws to spritzers!

As a third (and optional) step, add lemon garnish for additional flavor. The combination of yellow and green colors pair well together (and who doesn’t love to sip a beautiful drink?!)

Next, fill each glass with ice. Remember, a spritzer tastes best when it’s really cold, so make sure you’re generous with the ice!

After you drop in the ice, pour in your white wine of choice. For a standard wine glass, you will fill almost half of the cup.

Finally, top each glass with club soda to amp up the fizz. You can use any flavor you want. I prefer the lemon flavor, but you can also opt for a plain flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did you make this drink? If so, I’d love to see it — tag @thelemonbowl on Instagram to be featured! And while you’re here, you may also want to try these recipes:

• Orange Ginger Spritzer
• Homemade Blueberry Vodka Lemonade
• Strawberry Moscow Mule Cocktail
• Easy French 75 Cocktail
• Classic Tom Collins Cocktail
• Kir Royale

Cheers, friend! Your straw is waiting.