Georgian Tarragon and White Grape Spritz with Lime and Sparkling Wine

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 large bunch fresh tarragon (about 1 1/2 oz), stems and leaves
• 1 lb green seedless grapes, plus a small cluster for garnish
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
• 1 bottle (750 ml) dry sparkling wine, well chilled
• 1 cup sparkling water, chilled
• Plenty of clear ice
• 6 tarragon sprigs, for garnish
• 1 lime, sliced into wheels

Instructions

1. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.
2. Take the pan off the heat, submerge the entire bunch of tarragon in the hot syrup, and cover. Let it steep for exactly 20 minutes — longer turns the anise note bitter and medicinal.
3. Strain the syrup through a fine sieve, pressing lightly on the herbs, and chill it thoroughly. You should have about 1 1/4 cups of pale green syrup.
4. Blitz the grapes in a blender until liquefied, then strain through a fine sieve or nut-milk bag, pressing hard to extract every drop. Discard the skins and pulp.
5. Stir the strained grape juice, chilled tarragon syrup and lime juice together in a pitcher. Taste — it should be sharply herbaceous with the grape sweetness right behind it. Chill for at least an hour.
6. Fill six tall glasses with clear ice and pour the grape mixture in to about the halfway mark.
7. Top each glass with sparkling wine and a splash of sparkling water, then stir once, gently, with a bar spoon — vigorous stirring drives off the bubbles you just added.
8. Garnish each with a tarragon sprig, a lime wheel and a few grapes, and serve right away while the glass is still frosted.
9. Tarragon is practically a national flavor in Georgia, where tarkhuna — a startlingly green tarragon soda — has been a household staple since Soviet-era bottling plants took up a Tbilisi pharmacist's nineteenth-century syrup recipe. Pairing it with grape juice closes a circle, since Georgia is one of the oldest continuously wine-producing regions on earth and grape must turns up in everything from churchkhela candy to sauces. The spritz drinks like a summer garden: herbal, faintly sweet, and much drier than its color suggests.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 215 kcal
• Protein: 1g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 34g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 31g
• Sodium: 10mg