Ask for a Spritzer in Vienna and you will get a sturdy glass mug with a handle, filled half with dry white wine and half with fizzy water, and you will be expected to know your ratio. The G'spritzter is the house drink of the Heuriger, the wine taverns on the edge of the city where growers pour their own new wine, and Austrians treat the proportions with a seriousness usually reserved for tire pressures. Half and half is the standard; a Sommerspritzer is lighter, with more water; a Kaiserspritzer adds a splash of elderflower and a certain imperial air.

It is the ideal drink for a warm race day at Spielberg: refreshing, low in alcohol by the glass, and made with Austria's own crisp whites such as Grüner Veltliner or Welschriesling, which grow in the Styrian hills around the circuit. The only real rule is that everything must be very cold.

The classic G'spritzter

Ingredients

• 4 oz (125 ml) dry Austrian white wine
• 4 oz (125 ml) sparkling mineral water or soda water

Method

1. Pour the cold wine into the glass.
2. Pour the sparkling water down the side of the glass so it keeps its bubbles. Stir once, gently, with the spoon.

The Kaiserspritzer

Ingredients

• 3 oz (90 ml) dry Austrian white wine
• 1/2 oz (15 ml) elderflower syrup
• 4 oz (125 ml) sparkling mineral water
• 1 thin lemon slice
• 1 sprig fresh mint
• 3 or 4 ice cubes

Method

1. Put the ice in a large wine glass. Pour in the elderflower syrup, then the wine, and stir.
2. Top with the sparkling water, stir gently once and add the lemon slice and mint.

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