Mimosa Recipe: Ratios, Best Sparkling Wine and Brunch Tips

A classic mimosa is equal parts chilled sparkling wine and fresh orange juice, poured into a flute with no ice. That’s the International Bartenders Association’s (IBA) recipe, and it takes about a minute. This mimosa recipe covers the ratios named sources use, which sparkling wine is worth buying (hint: not Champagne), how it differs from a Buck’s Fizz, and how to serve mimosas to a brunch crowd without losing the bubbles.

The classic mimosa recipe

The IBA lists the mimosa among its official cocktails with this recipe:

• 75 ml freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2.5 fluid ounces)
• 75 ml Prosecco (about 2.5 fluid ounces)
• Optional garnish: an orange twist

Method, per the IBA:

1. Pour the orange juice into a flute.
2. Slowly add the Prosecco.
3. Stir gently.

The IBA notes that the drink is also known as a Buck’s Fizz. Wikipedia adds that a mimosa is typically served chilled, without ice, in a Champagne flute.

Other ratios

Not every source sticks to 50/50:

Source	Orange juice	Sparkling wine	Result
IBA	75 ml	75 ml Prosecco	Equal parts
SOMM TV	50%	50%	Equal parts
Liquor.com	2 oz fresh juice	Top up the flute	Drier, more wine-forward
Cookie and Kate	Rest of the flute	Fill about halfway first	Start 50/50, adjust to taste
Buck’s Fizz (Wikipedia)	1 part (5 cl)	2 parts (10 cl) Champagne	Twice as much wine

Liquor.com warns against being heavy-handed with the juice: it should complement the sparkling wine rather than bury it. Cookie and Kate suggests starting at 50/50 and adjusting from there: the writer makes hers with two parts sparkling wine to one part juice, and suggests adding more juice for a sweeter drink. In our view, equal parts is the right starting point for brunch, and a 2-to-1 wine-to-juice mix suits people who want to taste the wine.

Tip: Cookie and Kate suggests tilting the flute slightly as you pour the sparkling wine, the way you’d pour a beer, to keep more of the carbonation.

Which sparkling wine to use

Most of the sources we read agree: choose a dry, reasonably priced sparkling wine, and keep your good Champagne for drinking on its own.

Cava. Christopher Waters, writing in The Globe and Mail, calls a Brut or Brut Nature Cava the best base for mimosas, describing it as dry with lemony, nutty flavors. SOMM TV praises Cava for its value and its crisp, refreshing style, with apple and pear notes that don’t overpower the citrus. Cookie and Kate’s go-to mimosa wine is a Brut Cava too.

Prosecco. SOMM TV calls Prosecco “a fantastic sparkling wine” for mimosas, thanks to its fruity, floral character and price. Waters is less keen: he finds fruitier, often sweeter Proseccos compete with the juice. Our Prosecco guide explains the label terms; the short version is that Brut is drier than Extra Dry.

Dry vs sweet. SOMM TV quotes sommelier Jeff Porter, who prefers brut or extra brut for mimosas because orange juice already brings enough sweetness. For a sweeter drink, SOMM TV suggests Moscato d’Asti.

Crémant. None of the mimosa guides we read discusses it. Difford’s Guide describes Crémant de Bourgogne as Burgundy’s sparkling wine, made partly from the Aligoté grape. In our view, a Brut Crémant is a good middle ground if you want French bubbles at a mixing price.

Champagne. SOMM TV says Champagne “isn’t ideal” for a mimosa because its yeasty flavors can overpower the juice, and the price is hard to justify. Waters notes that the original recipe called for Champagne but says he hates to waste an expensive bottle.

Wine	What the sources say	Our take
Brut Cava	Waters’ top pick; SOMM TV praises its value	Our first choice
Brut Prosecco	SOMM TV recommends it; Waters finds sweeter styles less effective	Choose Brut, not Extra Dry
Moscato d’Asti	SOMM TV’s pick for a sweeter mimosa	For a dessert-style brunch
Brut Crémant	Not covered by the mimosa guides	A good French alternative
Champagne	SOMM TV and Waters say it’s wasted	Drink it on its own

The orange juice

With only two ingredients, the juice matters as much as the wine. Liquor.com says fresh is best and suggests squeezing a couple of oranges. Cookie and Kate’s tips:

• If you buy juice, choose high-quality, not-from-concentrate, pulp-free juice. Pulp makes a mess in a sparkling drink.
• If you squeeze your own, do it ahead so the juice can chill, and strain out any pulp.
• Any orange works, from navel oranges to blood oranges and clementines.

Keep everything cold. Cookie and Kate says to start with cold ingredients and keep them chilled. We’d chill both the wine and the juice for several hours, since warm juice knocks the bubbles out of the wine quickly.

Mimosas for a brunch crowd

How many bottles? At the IBA’s 75 ml of each per drink, one 750 ml bottle of sparkling wine and 750 ml (about 25 fluid ounces) of orange juice make 10 mimosas. With Liquor.com’s drier style, a bottle stretches less far, because each glass holds more wine.

Mimosa bar or pitcher? Cookie and Kate suggests a mimosa bar where guests combine chilled sparkling wine and juice in their own glasses. You can pre-mix mimosas in a pitcher, the site says, but you’ll lose some carbonation, so mix them just before the party and keep the pitcher in the fridge until guests arrive. In our view, the mimosa bar is worth the extra glasses, and it lets each guest choose a lighter pour.

Keep the bottles cold. An ice bucket with ice and water keeps open bottles at serving temperature on the table; our guide to the best Champagne bucket compares a few.

Note: A 150 ml mimosa made with equal parts holds about half a glass of wine, but “bottomless” brunch refills add up quickly. Offer plain juice and water alongside, and pace yourself.

Mimosa vs Buck’s Fizz

Wikipedia says a Buck’s Fizz was first served in 1921 at Buck’s Club in London, by a barman named Malachi “Pat” McGarry. Its classic mix is two parts Champagne to one part orange juice. The IBA treats the two drinks as synonymous, and Wikipedia calls them essentially the same. Some sources distinguish them by the ratio (twice as much wine in a Buck’s Fizz, equal parts in a mimosa) or the glass, but Wikipedia notes that some mimosa recipes don’t follow those rules.

Where the mimosa comes from

The origin is unclear. According to Liquor.com, the mimosa was created around 1925 and is often credited to Frank Meier, a bartender at the Ritz hotel in Paris, who later included the recipe in his book The Artistry of Mixing Drinks. Wikipedia is skeptical: it says Meier’s 1934 book marks his own inventions with a special symbol and doesn’t mark the mimosa that way. Wikipedia also says the drink was first called a “champagne orange”, that the name comes from the yellow flowers of the mimosa plant (Acacia dealbata), and that it became popular in the US in the 1960s.

Variations

Wikipedia lists several juice swaps:

• Poinsettia: cranberry juice instead of orange.
• Megmosa: grapefruit juice.
• Lemosa: lemonade.
• Vermosa: apple cider.

It also notes that Grand Marnier or orange bitters are sometimes added; Cookie and Kate, by contrast, prefers a classic mimosa without orange liqueur. For a peach version, make a Bellini, and for spritzes and other bubbly drinks, see our Prosecco cocktails.