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Aperol spritz, negroni sbagliato, the Hugo: each year, a new cocktail is dubbed the tipple of choice for the summertime – and, certo, they’re almost always from Italy.
There was a time when you’d ask for a Hugo spritz at most humble bars in the UK and they’d look at you incredulously. Then 2025 rolled around and suddenly you could get the elderflower liquor cocktail everywhere from the upmarket Claridge’s hotel to Wetherspoons.
Soon that will be the case for the next Venetian cocktail that’s set for mass popularisation: the sgroppino, which is slowly being served up and down the country in bars and more low-key boozers: Swift in London’s Borough and Soho, Butter Bird in Manchester, The Watering Can in Liverpool and “just add prosecco” sorbets in Selfridges, to name early adopters.
Of course, Ottolenghi and Nigella Lawson have been on the case for years, offering up their own takes on the Venetian classic back in 2023. “Its celestial texture is not quite solid, not quite liquid, but like a hazy dream of delight,” the latter enthused online last May.
For the uninitiated, the sgroppino is lemon sorbet, prosecco, and vodka. Although its exact origin remains unknown, the drink traces back to 16th-century Italy, where some say Venetian aristocrats drank it as a palate cleanser between courses at lavish banquets.
The name, coming from the Venetian dialect word sgropìn or desgropante, translates loosely to “untie the knot”, nodding to the cocktail’s ability to settle a stomach after a heavy meal.
An alternative story (because there’s always more than one) is that in the Seventies two brothers running a hotel in Veneto accidentally ordered too much vodka and tried to deal with their stock mistake creatively by mixing it into vodka and lemon juice, which was way too sour, before landing on sorbet. Thus, the sgroppino was (allegedly) born.
Either way, move over frozen margarita, there’s another iced drink ready to take over for this year’s (already scorching hot) summer.
Summertime Sgroppino recipe
By Sal e Pepe’s head of beverages, Pietro Collina
Ingredients
100 grams of Lemon Sorbet15 ml Grey Goose Vodka7.5 ml Simple Syrup7.5 ml Malic Solution7.5 ml Crème de ApricotTop with 30ml Prosecco One small sprig of mint
Directions
Place one scoop of lemon sorbet into a deep coupe and garnish with one small mint sprig. Combine the vodka, syrup, malic solution and crème de apricot and pour into the glass. Serve with a spoon and top up the glass with prosecco tableside for some added flair.
Mix the sorbet into the alcohol or enjoy separately in the sunshine.
Dining and Cooking