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bitterrefreshingdry

Bicicletta

Campari, dry white wine and soda water over ice — a lighter, everyday cousin of the Americano.

Difficulty
easy
Prep time
3 min
Strength
12.3% ABV
Glassware
Large wine glass
Base
liqueur led
Serves
1

Ingredients

  • Campari
    60ml
  • Dry white wine
    60ml
  • Soda water
    40ml

Garnish: Orange slice

Scale for a party

Method

  1. Fill a large wine glass with ice.
  2. Add the Campari, then the white wine.
  3. Top with soda water.
  4. Stir once, gently, and garnish with an orange slice.

Equipment

Don't have everything? Here's what works instead.

  • Jigger

    Household swap: A tablespoon measure (1 tbsp ≈ 15ml)

  • Corkscrew

    Household swap: A screw twisted into the cork and pulled out with pliers works in a pinch, though it's fiddly.

Missing an ingredient?

Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.

  • Instead of Campari

    Best substitute: Aperol

    This is the base in this drink.

    Quantity: Use the same amount

    Flavour impact: Aperol is sweeter and far less bitter, producing a gentler, more approachable drink closer to a light spritz.

    What changes

    Expect more sweetness, less bitterness, less intensity and less strength. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.

    Sweetness ↑
    The drink will land sweeter, which also makes it read as less sharp and slightly heavier even though nothing else changed.
    Bitterness ↓
    Losing bitterness makes the drink rounder and more approachable, and takes away the structure that stopped it tasting like squash.
    Intensity ↓
    A milder ingredient gets buried by whatever else is in the glass, and the drink loses the thing it was named for.
    Strength ↓
    Aperol is 11% ABV against 25%. A weaker bottle makes a softer drink — genuinely pleasant, but a different drink from the one written down.
    Character
    you lose bitter, herbal, citrusy and bold, and you gain bittersweet, orange, light and approachable. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Cut the syrup or sugar back — start by halving it and taste before adding any back.
    • A dash of bitters restores some of the backbone without changing anything else.
    • Increase the measure, or accept a gentler drink and reduce the components competing with it.
    • Pour a fraction more, or shorten the dilution slightly, to keep the shape of the original.
    Moderate confidenceA common lighter substitute, though it changes the character considerably.Shifts the drinkBecomes a variation

  • Instead of White Wine

    Best substitute: Sweet Vermouth

    This is the modifier in this drink.

    Quantity: Use about half as much (30ml), since vermouth is fortified and more concentrated

    Flavour impact: Swapping the wine for sweet vermouth essentially turns this into an Americano — richer, sweeter and more herbal.

    What changes

    Sweet Vermouth moves the drink a long way — more sweetness, less acidity, more bitterness and more intensity. This is worth making deliberately rather than as a stand-in.

    Sweetness ↑
    The drink will land sweeter, which also makes it read as less sharp and slightly heavier even though nothing else changed.
    Acidity ↓
    Less acidity is the change people notice most and diagnose least — the drink goes flat and slightly cloying rather than obviously wrong.
    Bitterness ↑
    Bitterness builds across a drink rather than announcing itself, so this will read as a longer, drier finish.
    Intensity ↑
    A more intensely flavoured ingredient will start to dominate the components around it.
    Character
    you lose crisp, light, acidic and fruity, and you gain sweet, herbal, wine-forward and slightly bitter. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Cut the syrup or sugar back — start by halving it and taste before adding any back.
    • Add a little more of it, or a squeeze of fresh citrus, until the drink lifts again.
    • Pour slightly less, or lengthen the drink a little, and let the sweetness catch up.
    • Scale it back by a third and let the other ingredients hold their share.
    High confidenceThis is essentially the difference between the two closely related drinks.Makes a different drinkBecomes a variation

Make it better

  • Use a crisp, dry white wine such as a Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc — a sweeter wine throws off the drink's balance.
  • Pour the soda in last and stir only once or twice to keep it lively.
  • Serve very cold with plenty of ice; this is a warm-weather sipper meant to be drunk slowly.
  • Add the carbonated mixer last, after shaking or stirring the rest, and pour gently to keep as much fizz as possible.

Rescue this drink

Too bitter
Add a touch more wine and soda to soften it, or switch to Aperol for a gentler version.
Tastes flat
Use fresh soda water and pour it in last, just before serving.
Too weak or watery
Use fewer, larger ice cubes so it dilutes more slowly.
Too sweetgeneral guidance
Add a small amount of fresh citrus juice or a dash of bitters to bring the balance back — adjust gradually and taste as you go.
Too sourgeneral guidance
Add a little more sweetener (simple syrup or the cocktail's usual sweetening ingredient), a small amount at a time.
Served too warmgeneral guidance
Chill the glass, ice and every ingredient ahead of time — a warm pour is the fastest way to lose a cold drink's balance. For one serving, there's no real fix beyond rebuilding it properly chilled; for a batch, keep everything refrigerated until the moment of serving and add ice last.

Make ahead & storage

Batch the base, finish at serving

Batch the 2 stable components days ahead and add soda water when you pour.

Soda water:
Carbonated — it goes flat in a bottle, and there is no way to put the fizz back.

What it tastes like

The taste, and what drives it

dry, gentle, very light, sparkling — a long and lengthened drink served long, over ice.

Dry

Dry → Sweet

Barely sweetened. The spirit and the acid are what you taste.

What drives it: Campari — carries the most sugar into the glass.

Gentle

Soft → Sharp

A trace of acidity, there to lift rather than to be noticed.

What drives it: Dry white wine — supplies the acidity.

Strongly bitter

Gentle → Bitter

Assertively bitter. An acquired taste, and deliberately so.

What drives it: Campari — provides the bitterness.

Very light

Light → Rich

Almost weightless in the mouth — closer to a long soft drink than to a sipper.

What drives it: Campari — adds most of the weight.

Sparkling

Still → Sparkling

Carbonated, which lifts the aromatics and makes the drink taste drier than its sugar content alone would suggest.

What drives it: Soda water — carries the carbonation.

Moderate

Delicate → Bold

Moderate: assertive enough to hold its own, mild enough for a second.

What drives it: Campari — is the most concentrated thing in the glass.

What you smell first

  • Citrus peelLeads

    From Campari, Orange slice

  • Fresh herb

    From Campari

  • Orchard fruit

    From Dry white wine

Every aroma here comes from the liquid itself; nothing is layered on top.

How it was worked out

Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. Almost everything in this drink has detailed ingredient data behind it.

How balance actually works →

If it isn't right

What goes wrong with this drink, and why

Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — each with the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.

The fizz is the last thing in, and the first thing lost

Worth knowing

Carbonation escapes to warmth, agitation and anything it can cling to — pulp, sugar crystals, a dry glass wall.

How to handle it: Chill the mixer hard, pour it against the inside of the glass, add it last, and stir once at most.

  • It's too bitter

    Likely cause
    Campari is doing this deliberately, but bitterness also *builds* across a drink rather than announcing itself — the last mouthful is more bitter than the first even though nothing changed.
    What to change
    Lengthen it slightly, or add a small amount of sweetener. Do not add more of anything sour; acid sharpens bitterness rather than covering it.
    What that does
    The bitterness softens and the drink gets longer. If you were hoping to keep it short and strong, this is the trade you are making.

  • It tastes weak

    Likely cause
    Usually dilution rather than measurement: building in the glass adds water as it chills, and wet or small ice adds far more of it than cold, large ice does.
    What to change
    Use larger, colder ice and work faster. Adding more spirit fixes the symptom and unbalances everything else.
    What that does
    The drink gains definition without gaining sugar. It will also read as slightly sharper, which is what 'more presence' usually means in practice.

  • It's gone flat

    Likely cause
    Soda water loses gas to warmth, to agitation and to anything it can nucleate against — pulp, sugar crystals, a dry glass.
    What to change
    Chill the mixer properly, add it last, pour it against the inside wall of the glass, and stir once at most.
    What that does
    The bubbles last, which also makes the drink taste drier — carbonation contributes a real acidity of its own on top of the lift.

  • It doesn't smell of anything

    Likely cause
    This drink's aroma comes from citrus peel and fresh herb, carried in the liquid. Serving it too cold suppresses that: volatile compounds do not leave a very cold drink.
    What to change
    Let it sit for a minute before drinking, and use a glass that narrows towards the rim to concentrate what does escape.
    What that does
    More of the aroma escapes and the drink reads as more intense. The cost is temperature: a drink left to warm also dilutes faster, so this is a trade against how long it stays right.

  • It tastes one-dimensional

    Likely cause
    With 3 components there is nowhere for complexity to hide — a long and lengthened drink is exposed by design, so a dull one is usually a dull ingredient rather than a missing step.
    What to change
    Change the quality of what is there before adding anything new: fresh citrus rather than bottled, a better base bottle, a dash of bitters. Bitters add layers at a scale nothing else matches.
    What that does
    More going on at the same strength and sweetness. Adding a whole extra ingredient instead usually produces a muddier drink rather than a deeper one.

Taste profile

Sweetness
1/5
Sourness
1/5
Bitterness
4/5
Strength
2/5
Fruitiness
1/5
Freshness
3/5
Creaminess
0/5
Smokiness
0/5

Nutrition & alcohol

Estimate onlyBased on standard 60ml/60ml pours; exact ABV varies by wine and Campari batch.
Calories
120 kcal
Sugar
7 g
Carbohydrates
9 g
Alcohol units (UK)
2.22
US standard drinks
1.25
ABV
12.3%
Serving size
180 ml
Show calculation assumptions

Source: Calculated from standard measures

Calorie breakdown: ~122 kcal from alcohol, ~0 kcal from sugar and mixers.

Likely range: 90–150 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.

Assumes Campari at 25% ABV and white wine at 12% ABV.

These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.

Variations

  • Americano-style

    Replace the white wine with sweet vermouth for a richer, sweeter drink.

  • Spritz Bicicletta

    Replace the still wine with a dry sparkling wine for a fizzier, more festive version.

What kind of drink this is

The structure behind the recipe

A built build: a long and lengthened liqueur-led-based drink, served long, over ice — sparkling in the mouth.

Long and lengthened

A short measure stretched with a mixer or juice — the drink's length, not its concentration, is the point of it.

  • Base

    Campari

  • Modifier

    Dry white wine

  • Lengthener

    Soda water

Drinks built this way are collected as the Spritz family.

Technique

built

Components are poured into the serving glass over ice and stirred once, or not at all. Dilution happens while you drink rather than before.

The drink changes as you go: strongest at the first sip, longest and most diluted at the last. That drift is a feature of a long drink and a fault in a short one.

What it ruins: Nothing, but it cannot properly combine anything viscous — a syrup poured last will sit at the bottom.

Everything about building in the glass →How the technique works →

Dilution

In the glass, as you drink

Water from ice typically makes up around 15% of the finished drink for a built build (commonly 10–20%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.

Why dilution is an ingredient →

Served

Long, over ice

Large wine glass · 180ml

Served on ice, so it keeps chilling in the glass. A larger, colder, slower drink than the same spirits served straight up.

Texture and aroma

Sparkling

Carbonation lifts aromatics and adds a slight acidity of its own, which is why a long drink can taste drier than its sugar content suggests.

No dedicated aromatic component — what you smell is the spirit itself, which is a deliberate choice in a drink this spare.

Where to go from here

Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.

Where it comes from

Origin and family

Origin of the Bicicletta

Northern Italian, especially associated with the Veneto region; the name references cycling home afterward thanks to its comparatively low alcohol content.

Family

Spritz

3 parts sparkling wine · 2 parts bitter aperitif · 1 part soda — built over ice, in a big glass.

1934–1979Other mid-century drinks →

On drinks history

Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.

History and culture →

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Use up your ingredients

Bought a bottle just for this? Here's what else it's good for.

Related tools

Scale this for a party

Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.

Recipe confidence

A well-known regional Italian classic, though proportions vary somewhat by household and region.

Moderate confidence