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Over the past year, there has been plenty of talk in bar and restaurant circles about wine-based cocktails. Some people in the industry have even coined the term "winetails," I guess mainly because people can't resist coining ridiculous terms.

Name aside, I wholeheartedly support experimentation with wine in cocktails. Much as I enjoy 101-proof rye whiskey or 110-proof green Chartreuse, sometimes even a spirits writer doesn't want to consume that much alcohol. Plus, I love wine.

I must warn, however, that using wine in cocktails is a surefire way to scandalize the serious wine aficionados in your life. Which is always fun.

The other day, for instance, I prepared my favorite wine-based drink at a little get-together. I opened a decent bottle of Rioja, poured some into a highball glass filled with ice, then topped it with an equal measure of Coca-Cola.

Those watching were aghast. "That's like a hobo drink," said my friend Erin.

In fact, that drink is called a Calimocho (or a Rioja Libre) and is the tipple of choice of wayward Spanish youths, a poor man's sangria. It is also extremely delicious and refreshing on a hot day.

"It's a dirty secret, but Coke with a big, fat red wine is great," says Duggan McDonnell, owner of Cantina Bebidas in San Francisco, where Sauternes, malbecs and muscats mingle with harder spirits on the cocktail menu.

Wine-based cocktails allow places without hard-liquor licenses to serve mixed drinks. And the move to wine as a drink ingredient seems to speak to many Americans' jitters about drinking hard liquor. "It has to do with lighter palates, people wanting something a little lighter," McDonnell says. "I'm all for lowered alcohol, and it's often a nicer overall experience. I don't always want to taste heat on the palate. I want balance."
Fortified wines such as port and sherry have been old-school standards since the early days of cocktailmaking. The classic...

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