Apple, Banana or Orange – Which Goes Best in a Champagne Cocktail?

Three highly liked fruits and a bottle of the good stuff, but how will they work together, will they combine into a masterpiece or tear each other apart on the palate?

Fruit has been enjoyed in Cocktails for a long while now, but Champagne with fruit still has some uncharted territory, the Mimosa being one of the most popular and well known Champagne Cocktails with the combination of Orange Juice. I’m not saying that Champagne and Apple Juice has never been done before, but there isn’t a version as popular as the Mimosa. Banana juice isn’t as widely sold in the supermarkets, the best I’ve found was a Strawberry and Banana Smoothie, but I choose not to use that as I didn’t want the strawberry helping the banana.

The Champagne – Champagne Chateau de Boursault

Château de Boursault is home to one of the most famous Châteaux in Champagne. In the small wine-growing village of Boursault, the château proudly dominates the left bank of the Marne Valley, 10km west of Epernay. Château de Boursault is situated higher than most other wineries we’ve visited, with the views from the château overlooking a beautifully large area of Champagne. You can find out more about the fascinating history behind the Châteaux and their Champagnes here: A Trip To Champagne Château de Boursault

Champagne Chateau de Boursault – Cuvée Prestige Brut Tasting Notes

Aroma – “A wonderfully crafted aroma, with brioche, croissants and lightly toasted bread.”

Flavour – “Fizzy citrus, bubbly, touch dry and orchid fruits on the palate.”

This Champagne Won a Silver Medal in the Classic & Elegant Category at The World’s Finest Glass of Bubbly Awards 2020.

For this experiment to see which pairs best with Champagne, I will use the same ingredients with each cocktail, such as 25mls of Gin and 1 teaspoon of sugar plus any water if required to blend, the rest of the ingredients needs to be made from the specified fruit.

Champagne Apple Pastry Cocktail

An Apple Fact: Apple was founded on the 1st of April 1976, I’m only joking, there are around 7,500 varieties of apples grown throughout the world today with around 2,500 varieties grown in the United States.

Ingredients

• Champagne
• Apple
• Apple Juice
• Gin

How To Make The Apple Pastry Cocktail

1. Pour in 25mls of Gin.
2. Add 75mls of Apple Juice.
3. Top up with your Champagne.
4. Add a slice of Apple on the rim of the glass and enjoy.

Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Apple juice and fresh apple aromas.”

Flavour – “Zesty and fizzy apples with apple pastry and apple juice with a slight kick from the gin.”

This was a very enjoyable cocktail, you have a nice combination of apple and pastry, a great example of two ingredients coming together for the greater good.

Champagne Floating Banana Cocktail

A Banana Fact: Humans and Bananas share around 50% of DNA with each other, Bananas like apples also float and the scientific name for a Banana is ‘musa sapientum’, which means ‘fruit of the wise men’.

Ingredients

• Champagne
• Bananas
• Water
• Gin

How To Make The Floating Banana Cocktail

1. Pour in 25mls of Gin.
2. Blend together 1 banana and 75mls of water.
3. Add 75mls of your blended banana into your glass.
4. Top up with your Champagne.
5. Add a couple of banana slices into your glass and enjoy.

Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Banana smoothie with hints of burnt toast, banana on toast.”

Flavour – “An oaky and toasty banana cocktail with a little kick from the gin.”

I love bananas and I love Champagne, but I can not recommend this cocktail, the two wonderful creations do not combine together well and create an oaky taste that is not very enjoyable. I still wish to create a great banana cocktail, it’s not easy, as banana and sparkling wine do not combine together. I will continue trying to create the perfect banana cocktail.

Champagne Orange Tart Cocktail

An Orange Fact: When compared to other countries, Brazil grows the MOST Oranges, with them growing 1/3 of the world’s Oranges. They grow just over twice as many as in China who sit in second place, they are then followed by the whole of Europe and then the United States of America.

Creating a Mimosa with just Champagne and Orange Juice would be the easy option, but I decided to try something a little bit different.

Ingredients

• Champagne
• Orange
• Orange Juice
• Gin

How To Make The Orange Tart Cocktail

1. Pour in 25mls of Gin.
2. Add 75mls of Orange Juice.
3. Top up with your Champagne.
4. Add a slice of Orange onto the rim of the glass and enjoy.

Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Orange juice and fresh orange aromas.”

Flavour – “A stronger fizzy orange taste with a touch of pastry on the palate.”

Orange is a very powerful drink and will always be a strong competitor for your taste buds, although it still won this fight the Champagne did deliver on the palate with its pastry notes.

Conclusion

The right Champagne or Sparkling Wine can transform a cocktail into the perfect drink, after this experiment, I found out that the Apple Cocktail was great and I would recommend it for anyone who loves apples. The Banana Cocktail was an unfortunate disappointment, the two main ingredients just didn’t want to work together. The Orange Cocktail worked rather well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it if you like the Mimosa, just with an extra pastry taste.