As temperatures soar above 100F for days and weeks on end, here’s one sure (and pretty low carb) way to keep your cool: Tinto de Verano, low carb style.

On my recent Santa Barbara Choral Society performance tour to Spain, where temperatures were pretty toasty as well, Mike and I discovered the Spanish custom of enjoying ‘the wine of summer’ and drank about a 55-gallon drum of it each.

Much like sangria, but much lighter and more refreshing, tinto de verano substitutes lightly sweetened sparkling water for fruit juice as the diluent of the wine. And this makes for a much superior thirst quencher.

Give a try to my low carb version, but I warn you, they’re addictive!

Low Carb Tinto de Verano
Serves 8

1 (750 ml) bottle red wine (Spanish if you’ve got it)
2 ounces (60 ml) DaVinci Sugar-Free Simple Syrup
3/4 liter (750 ml) sparkling water

1. Pour the wine and simple syrup into a 2 quart pitcher
2. Quarter the limes, squeeze their juice into the wine, and drop in the lime hulls. Or slice the limes and just drop them in.
3. Add the sparkling water and stir to combine.
4. Serve in a tall glass over ice with another slice of lime to garnish

Prepare to be cooled off!

7 Comments

  1. I started doing this recently, minus the syrup. I have a sodastream that makes the sparking water, and mix that with something like a heavy syrah. Very tasty.

  2. Oh, where in Spain did you were?

    Greetings from a Spaniard -paleo-lowcarb advocat- nutrition blogger and journalist!

    Comment from MD Eades: Though we’ve been to Spain a number of times before, this trip we hit three cities we’d never visited: Cuence, Zaragosa, and Figueres. Our travels took us from Madrid to Toledo to Cuenca to Zaragosa to Figueres to Barcelona…singing all the way. We had absolutely wonderful audiences full of friendly Spaniards who loved good choral music. It was a wonderful experience!

  3. I want to add I dont like red wine, but I love ‘tinto de verano’ in summer. But sugar added is a issue, sure

    There are some ‘tinto de verano’ products also ready to take in supermarkets here in Spain. And there are already ‘ZERO CARBS’ versions of these products here!! Three main tinto de verano Spaniard brands (La Casera, Sandevid, Don Simon) have ZERO CARBS versions.

  4. What a wonderful summer drink!!! It’s only 10:30 in the morning, as I’m reading this, but it sounds good enough for breakfast!!
    In Central Mexico on vacation awhile back, I would ask for wine at a restaurant, and they would bring tequila!! Finally we found out for red wine its: Vino tinto, and for white: vino blanco. (that took 2 days to find that out, LOL) So when I saw the title of your blog I immediately knew what it was… Thanks for a great recipe!! Verano isn’t over yet!!!!

  5. How many limes do you like to use? Is 3 too much?

    Comment from MD Eades: I use about 1/2 of a lime for every 8 ounce glass.

  6. This is absolutely as delightful as you described or more!! The low carb part was the clencher for me….and the next best thing is its’ deliciousness. Thank you for this refreshing and beautiful beverage recipe!

  7. this is pretty darn good! I just made my own simple syrup with a bit of splenda and water. You didn’t say how many limes? I used 3, and 2 oranges. Might use more next time.

    Serve 8? In my case, serves 1!

    Comment from MD Eades:
    Reminds me of an old story. When my sister got married at our home years ago, our oldest son was about 16 or 17. It was a morning wedding and the brunch that followed included mimosas (surprise!?) which my son and his best friend wanted to try. I took them over to the kindly (and quite old) bartender and told him they could each have one. Just one. Years later (under the 10 year rule) my son told me that as I’d walked away Mr. Calvin had smiled at them and said ‘Just one…at a time.’

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *