Fröccs is wine mixed with soda water, and Hungarians take it seriously enough to have named every ratio. A kisfröccs is equal parts wine and soda, a nagyfröccs is two parts wine to one of soda, and a hosszúlépés, the long step, is one part wine to two of soda. The story most often told places its birth in 1842, at a harvest gathering in a wine cellar in Fót, when the physicist Ányos Jedlik added his own soda water to the wine and the poet Mihály Vörösmarty gave the result its Hungarian name, from the word for splash.

Fót sits just next door to Mogyoród, home of the Hungaroring, so this is about as local as a race day drink can be. In August heat it is the obvious choice: cold, light and easily paced across a long afternoon. There is even a sportfröccs, one part wine to four of soda, which is the closest Hungary comes to a drink with a fuel saving mode.

The fröccs (nagyfröccs, 2 to 1)

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup (150 ml) dry Hungarian white wine, very cold
• 1/3 cup (75 ml) soda water, very cold
• 1 or 2 ice cubes

Method

1. Pour the cold wine into the glass first. Add an ice cube or two only if the wine is not properly cold.
2. Pour the soda water in from a little height so it mixes itself. Do not stir hard, or you lose the bubbles.
3. For a kisfröccs use equal amounts, about 1/2 cup (100 ml) each. For a hosszúlépés use 1/2 cup (100 ml) wine and 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (200 ml) soda.

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