The White on Green originated due to two strokes of luck during the spring of 2021. The first: Augusto Lino, mixologist and bar manager of Noir, an intimate, dimly lit cocktail bar tucked within the lower level of The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, blocks from Harvard Square and Longfellow House—Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. Observing from behind the bar, Lino noted his Cambridge clientele’s penchant for watching Wimbledon. Players clad in tennis whites face off on a grass court, a Pimm’s Cup the classic accompaniment. The second bit of luck: After an extensive tasting of German and Austrian Rieslings for Noir’s wine list, several open bottles were left behind.
Lino grew up in São Paolo and arrived in New York City as an exchange student in 2002, planning to study architecture. But being behind the bar, he recalls, “made me come out of my shell.” That same year, the first edition of Dale DeGroff’s The Craft of the Cocktail was published, putting into words “what so many of us were feeling at the start of the craft movement,” says Lino. Rather than reaching for commercial sour mix, juicing lemons and limes was craft; preserving otherwise unwanted fruit by creating a shrub—that was craft. Lino applied that philosophy to the White on Green, blending the leftover Rieslings with white wine vinegar and mint syrup (simple syrup with a fresh, minty underlayer) to 12 ounces of Riesling to create a shrub, ultimately amplifying the drink’s complexity, citrus notes and body. Peeled English cucumbers are pureed and then sit until solids and liquid separate, so the cocktail doesn’t appear muddy in the end. This is a critical step, one of freshness, discovery, imagination, and experimentation that, says Lino, opens the drink up to “come into its own and be what it’s really meant to be.”
White on Green
Ingredients
1 ½ ounce Pimm’s No. 1
2 ounces Riesling shrub*
1 ounce cucumber juice (peel the cucumbers before juicing)
1 ounce ginger beer
Mint bouquet for garnish
Instructions
Combine all ingredients, except the ginger beer, in a shaker. Add a small amount of ice (pebble or crushed). Shake the drink for integration (not for dilution—so not too vigorously). Pour the ginger beer in the glass. Add the contents of the shaker over the ginger beer. Stir to combine and top with more ice. Garnish with mint bouquet and a straw.
How to Make Riesling Shrub
Combine 12 ounces Riesling (off-dry to dry), 4 ounces white wine vinegar and 4 ounces mint syrup (or simple syrup). Refrigerate, up to two weeks.
More Ways to Ace Your Summer Drinking Game
If you like tennis, learn how to make the traditional Pimm’s Cup cocktail—Wimbledon’s signature drink.
Elevate your White on Green with homemade simple syrup and inspiration from foraged ingredients.
Here are 25 more summer cocktails to help beat the heat.
Ace your pickleball and wine-toting game with our 2-in-1 waxed canvas 3-bottle wine bag.
This article originally appeared in the June/July 2024 of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!
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