Edited by Aj
Aperol was created in 1919 in Padua, but it spent more than eighty years as a local favourite before it became the orange drink you see on every summer terrace from Venice to Viaduct Harbour. That gap between creation and cultural moment is the interesting part. For most of its life, Aperol was an Italian habit, strongest in the northeast and little known abroad. Then, after Campari Group bought the brand in 2003, it became one of the most recognised cocktails on the planet. The story of how that happened tells you a lot about what the drink actually is.
The Aperol Spritz isn’t just a recipe. It’s a ritual borrowed from the Italian concept of aperitivo, the pre-dinner hour when you drink something light and bitter to sharpen your appetite and slow your evening down. It’s an intentional pause. The drink itself is low in alcohol, genuinely refreshing, and easy to make well at home. And once you understand what it’s trying to do, you’ll stop thinking of it as simple and start thinking of it as precise.
A Venetian Ritual That Became a Global Habit
The spritz as a category predates Aperol by decades. Austrian soldiers stationed in Venetia during the 19th century found local wines too strong and began adding a splash of water, a spritz in German, to tone them down. Over time that splash became soda water, a bitter liqueur joined the glass, and the whole ritual evolved into something Italians made entirely their own.
Aperol itself is a bittersweet aperitif made from orange, gentian root, rhubarb, cinchona, and a closely guarded mix of herbs and botanicals. It clocks in at just 11% alcohol, which is part of why the finished spritz sits around 8 to 9%. That’s lower than most glasses of wine. The colour is vivid orange, the flavour is sweet upfront with a dry, herbal finish, and it’s designed to leave you wanting food, not more drinks.
The official build, promoted heavily by Aperol’s owner Campari Group, is a simple ratio: three parts Prosecco, two parts Aperol, one part soda. In Venice’s old bacari you’ll still find spritzes made with still white wine and other bitters, such as Select. The order of construction matters too, though we’ll get to that below. For something similarly Italian and equally food-friendly, our Limoncello Spritz recipe is worth keeping alongside this one.
What You Need
- 90ml Prosecco (a dry, entry-level DOC works well here; the fruit doesn’t need to be complex)
- 60ml Aperol
- 30ml chilled soda water
- Large ice cubes or a single chunk of ice
- Half a wheel of fresh orange, to garnish
- Optional: one green olive on a pick
How to Make It
- Fill a large wine glass (a balloon or oversized goblet works best) with ice. You want the glass cold before anything else goes in.
- Pour the Prosecco in first. This protects the bubbles and gives the Aperol something to land into rather than sinking straight to the bottom.
- Add the Aperol. Watch it bleed down through the wine in ribbons of orange. Give it one slow, gentle stir, just enough to combine without flattening the bubbles.
- Top with the soda water. Pour it slowly over the back of a bar spoon if you want to preserve the fizz.
- Tuck the orange wheel against the inside of the glass so it sits above the ice. Add the olive if you’re going traditional.
The Three Details That Actually Matter
Ice: Use large, dense cubes or a single block. Smaller ice chips melt fast and dilute the drink before you’re halfway through it. If you’re making a batch for friends on the deck, pre-chill the glasses in the freezer for ten minutes and build drinks to order.
Dilution: The one-part soda isn’t optional decoration. It opens up the aromatics in the Aperol and keeps the drink feeling alive rather than flat and sticky. Skipping the soda makes the whole thing too sweet and slightly heavy. Add it.
Glassware: A large wine glass is correct, not a highball, not a tumbler. The wide bowl lets the orange colour read properly and gives the bubbles room to rise. It also means you can get your nose into the glass and actually smell the botanicals before you drink.
Three Twists Worth Trying
The NZ Rosé Spritz: Swap the Prosecco for a dry New Zealand sparkling rosé, something from Marlborough or Martinborough with good acidity. The colour deepens to a coral pink, the berry notes play nicely against Aperol’s bitterness, and it feels a step more local.
The Bitter Upgrade: Replace half the Aperol with Campari. The result is drier, more herbal, considerably more bitter, and closer to what serious aperitivo drinkers in Milan tend to order. It’s the grown-up version of the same drink. If you enjoy drinks that lean bitter and savoury, this is your direction.
Zero-Proof Aperitivo Spritz: For a low and no version, use Lyre’s Italian Spritz (a non-alcoholic, Aperol-style aperitif available in NZ) in place of Aperol, and a good non-alcoholic sparkling wine in place of Prosecco. The flavour isn’t identical but it’s genuinely good, bitter, lightly herbal, and built on the same structural logic as the original. Finish with soda, a big orange wheel, and the same large glass.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Champagne or other sparkling wine instead of Prosecco?
You can, but the flavour shifts significantly. Champagne brings toasty, brioche notes that compete with Aperol’s bitterness rather than complementing it. Prosecco’s soft pear and cream character works better because it stays in the background. A dry NZ sparkling wine made in the traditional method can work well if the base fruit isn’t too dominant.
Why does my Aperol Spritz taste too sweet?
Usually one of three things: the Prosecco is off-dry rather than dry, the soda was skipped or under-poured, or the ratio has drifted toward too much Aperol. Dial the Aperol back to 60ml, make sure your Prosecco is labelled brut, not extra dry, which is actually the sweeter style, and add the full measure of soda. The bitterness and fizz together cut through the sweetness.
Is Aperol the same as Campari?
They’re both Italian bitter liqueurs from the same family of aperitivi, but they’re distinct. Aperol is sweeter, lower in alcohol, and more approachable with a strong orange character. Campari is drier, more intensely bitter, higher in alcohol, and built around a more complex herbal base. Spiritly covers both in more depth across our spirits section if you want to go further down that rabbit hole.
