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.
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
