Wine meets big fizz and natural flavour to create a drink breaking all the rules – these are our 10 picks.

If summer 2022 was all about the seltzer, this summer is undoubtedly about spritzers, a new kind of drink with roots in the ’90s (like all the coolest things RN). Yes, your mum may have spent three hours plucking her eyebrows razor thin before going to the local pub to drink white wine spritzers and dance to Madonna, but these are definitely not your mum’s spritzers.

These drinks are a true hybrid and fluid in more ways than one. There is nothing prescriptive about a spritzer. Sure, the Italian Spritz aperitif has a bit of a formula — three parts prosecco, two parts bitter liqueur and one part soda — but the 2024 spritzer is free from the boundaries that are often so set when it comes to alcohol. If natural flavours like white peach or watermelon get you pumped, you’re in for treat. And your friend who loves to tell you “It’s not Champagne unless it’s from Champagne in France” is going to hate this.

Local wine producers are catching on with new releases that take all the best bits of other drinks you’d order and are making something that is so user-friendly you’re truly not going to want to drink anything else. It’s super fizzy and refreshing like a seltzer, funky and flavourful like wine, new and exciting like a fancy cocktail. Plus, with a lighter ABV and in individual serves, so nothing goes to waste. Ahead, we round up six drinks made for a sun-drenched summer of fun.

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1. The one that will go with your festival outfit

Light and fruity, Tempus One Prosecco Spritzers are such a good first drink. At just 4% ABV, they’re here to bridge the gap between the day task and night fun. It’s also a vibe setter: lots of flavour, lots of fine bubbles and the neon-coloured cans (purple for passionfruit, pink for watermelon) are a visual treat. It’s also no accident that they look like the can version of your most enthusiastic festival-loving friend – the brand has partnered with Live Nation so these bubbly babes are available at all the big events this season.

2. The ones that’ll whisk you away on vacay

Squealing Pig already makes great, highly drinkable wine, but if you don’t love the intensity or dryness of a glass of rosé, these spritzer cans are making the whole wine thing more palatable. Squealing Pig Sauv Blanc Tropical Spritz is the drink version of a five-star getaway on a lush, steamy island on the equator, and the Squealing Pig Sauv Blanc Strawberry Spritz is a cottage-core devotee. This is wine that’s more about thirst quenching, pineapples and red fruit than anything to do with body, tannins or vintage.

Cans of the new Squealing Pig Spritzers, with its Tropical Wine and Strawberry Wine flavours

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3. The rizz, bottled

Old Fat Unicorn is a brand with a lot of confidence. Adorning all their drinks is an illustration of what is clearly a rhino with a horn, but the naming seems to insist it’s a unicorn. But you know what? Labels are dumb and you can be whatever you want, even if you’re an illustration of a rhino on a bev. The two flavours of Old Fat Unicorn Spritzers: Prosecco Apple and Moscato Musk are, respectively, sour and sweet. Prosecco and green apple flavours bring a pleasant sharpness that cuts through the soda, while the Moscato is a much sweeter pink wine that pairs well with a candied musk flavour.

4. The crowd-pleasers

Nobel Fellows have amped up the flavour big-time for their Spritzers. Their regular pinot gris already has an intense pear and lychee fruit aroma so the addition of peach to their Pinot Gris White Peach Spritzer is the perfect bonus that takes it to a whole new style of drink. The cherry on top, but it’s a peach. Similarly, their sauv blanc is juicy, so blending it with a decidedly juicy fruity in their Sauv Blanc Passionfruit Spritzer is all wins. Smart people.

Three people holding different canned spritzers

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Holding a can of Jacob's Creek Petit Rosé Spritzer

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5. The outdoor gathering’s BFF

Jacob’s Creek Le Petit Rosé Spritzer is a slam-dunk of a picnic drink. Forget wine, this is truly a cocktail, and it gains the crucial element of being highly refreshing (and big on fizz). They’ve also added a big, freshly picked strawberry flavour that makes for more interesting drinking, feeling more reminiscent of a Korean soju.

6. The eco (and tastebud) warrior

Tread Softly wins a lot of points for being a sustainably conscious manufacturer. It gets the Earth’s vote, if you catch our drift. They are also great at shapeshifting their delicious wine to suit different drinkers, but the latest edition strikes out into new territory with the Tread Softly Rosé Summer Berries Spritzer. Again, this is more like a spritzy cocktail and has a really balanced flavour underpinned by big, natural red-berry deliciousness.