Negroni sbagliato

I’m such an Armchair Traveler. Take one look at my Passport, and you’ll know I haven’t been anywhere in years. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy my virtual peregrinations, brimming as they are with a wonderful combination of memories, true nostalgia and the discovery of the new. In the realm of memories and possibly even more of nostalgia are the many cocktails that have as their base that quintessential Italian beverage, Campari. The Campari cocktail with the most character is unassailably the Negroni (nay-GROW-nee), an aperitivo with a distinct point of view – herbaceous, botanical, Italian and pure alcohol. These days it seems everybody talks Negroni, but not everybody drinks Negroni. And I think it’s the gin that stops them. Ah, but drinkers walk the walk where Prosecco is concerned. Everybody drinks Prosecco. Want the allure of a Negroni, but don’t want the gin? When is a Negroni not a Negroni? When it is Mistaken, when it is a Bungled Negroni. And where this Negroni went wrong was with the use of sparkling wine in place of gin. See, you can have your cake and eat it too.

I have always thought of a Negroni as a man’s drink – gotta be the gin. But lose the gin and add sparkling wine, that’s a drink I can sip. One evening in the late 1960’s at Milan’s Bar Basso a patron ordered a Negroni. The bartender and owner, one Mirko Stochetto, built the drink, and when he finished, he realized he had mistakenly added sparkling wine, its bottle having been placed where the gin normally stood. Upon discovering his error, he began to prepare another, a proper Negroni for his patron. The patron, being a most convivial and somewhat adventuresome fellow, stopped Sig. Stochetto saying he would try the first drink, the one with the sparkling wine – the Mistaken Negroni. He liked it, and the Negroni sbagliato was born. Although the patron’s name is lost to us, the Negroni sbagliato (spal-YACHT-oh) remains, having taken its place in the pantheon of Italian aperitivi. The drink is typically made with 1 ounce of sparkling wine – but being me, I like to double it. I guess that makes mine a Negroni molto sbagliato.

Click to visit Milan’s Bar Basso and see Maurizio Stochetto, son of Mirko Stochetto, prepare a Negroni sbagliato.

Oh yes, and just in case you were wondering, in the short story Risico, James Bond did order a Negroni.

Negroni sbagliato

1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Italian vermouth (go for the Cocchi Vermouth di Torino – I love it)
1 to 2 ounces sparkling wine – do not stint, per favore
orange wheel

Fill a Rocks glass 3/4 full with ice. Add Campari and vermouth. Top with sparkling wine, and stir. Garnish with an orange wheel. Serve at once.

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I have no affiliation with any product, manufacturer, or site mentioned in this article.