Pampas Grass: A Champagne Drink

I love mimosas. Actually, I love many drinks that mix nice-tasting ingredients with champagne.  I love champagne.  Bubbly is good.  Very good.

Overlay the above with the fact that my dad and aunt-mom (story later) had a very prodigious grapefruit tree, and one of my favorite cousins lives in Florida and has an uncle with a citrus farm.  You can imagine:  I am blessed to receive tons of citrus in the winter, and challenged to do it justice.  One result:  the Pampas Grass, a champagne and grapefruit juice drink.

It’s an easy mix:  equal parts champagne (or sparkling wine), Midori, and freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice.  I made it recently for my nieces, who graced us with a pre-Christmas visit.

The Pampas Grass (makes one drink; multiply as necessary)

Ingredients

• 2 oz. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (or purchased, if you don’t have fresh fruit)
• 2 oz. Midori melon liqueur
• 2 oz. inexpensive but decent champagne or sparkling wine (Korbel or a similar wine) – *see note below
• lemon, lime or small grapefruit slices for garnishing

Mixing Instructions

Add all liquid ingredients to a wine or champagne glass, and garnish with citrus slice.

*Note: I saw Anthony Dias Blue of Wine Spectator on Good Morning America about 25 years ago, and when asked about champagne for mixing in drinks like mimosas, he advocated using inexpensive but decent champagne (like Korbel). He said that the finer champagnes were wasted when they were mixed with juices or other liquors. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.