Negroni Sbagliato

The Negroni Sbagliato — sbagliato meaning "mistaken" or "wrong" in Italian — is a Negroni made, gloriously, by accident. Sparkling wine stands in for the gin, and the drink it produces is lower in proof, brighter, and dressed in bubbles: an aperitivo you can happily drink before the aperitivo.

A Mistake at Bar Basso

The drink was born at Bar Basso in Milan in the early 1970s, when bartender Mirko Stocchetto — reaching for the gin — took hold of a bottle of sparkling wine instead and poured it into a Negroni already in progress. Rather than start over, he served it. Bar Basso pours them still, in its famously oversized glasses.

For decades the Sbagliato was an insider's order, traded quietly among people who knew. Then, in 2022, a single offhand remark in a television interview sent it briefly and joyfully viral — proof that the best way to popularise a fifty-year-old cocktail is to mention it without explaining it.

Equal Parts, Gently Built

Like its parent, the Sbagliato is equal parts: Campari, sweet vermouth, and sparkling wine. But where the Negroni is stirred hard against ice, the Sbagliato is simply built in the glass — the sparkling wine added last and folded in, never stirred — so the bubbles survive intact to the first sip.

Built, Not Stirred

Stirring is the enemy here: every rotation of the bar spoon knocks the life out of the wine. Build the Campari and vermouth over ice, top with cold sparkling wine, and give it one gentle lift with the spoon — no more. Prosecco is traditional and properly Milanese; a dry cava or Champagne works too, and the drier the wine, the better it stands against Campari's sweetness.

The Negroni Family