Garden-To-Glass with Jardesca

Last week, I had the incredible honor of participating in a private Jardesca California Aperitiva tasting event in Hollywood! I invited some of my favorite women in wine for a fun night at TARTE restaurant where we tasted Jardesca's two aperitifs and made our own garden-to-glass wine cocktails.

Charlie Morrison, who works at Jardesca with his father, told us that they strive to make a truly Californian aperitif experience, free from additives, and I absolutely think their vision shines through in their products. They have a white and a red. I personally prefer the red, as it's zinfandel based and sort of tastes like a non-sweetened sangria. It's perfect for mixing. I think my favorite cocktail of the evening was the red mixed with some mint and ginger beer - completely unexpected, I thought maybe it would taste weird but it was actually fantastic. It was the perfect late-summer drink and I am really excited to make myself one sometime soon.

As you can see from the image above, Charlie brought all these fresh herbs and some fruits so we could make our own wine cocktails there at the table. If you are hosting a party or happy hour soon, I would definitely check out Jardesca and set up a little make-your-own cocktail bar to share with your guests. You can find some of their incredible recipe ideas on their website.

I don't have a ton of experience with aperitifs or wine cocktails in general, so this was an absolute blast for me. I'm planning to try some more of the recipes out this summer for poolside cocktails. Do you have any favorite wine cocktails?