Heads up: this guide contains an affiliate link. If you buy through it we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Yes, you can mix red wine with Coke, and half the wine-drinking world already does. The Spanish call it kalimotxo, South Africans call it katemba, students everywhere call it a good idea at 11pm, and wine snobs call it a crime. It is none of those things. It is a cheap, fizzy, surprisingly refreshing drink that tastes a bit like a young sangria, and there is a right way to make it.
This guide covers what it is called, how to make one that is actually nice, which red wine to use (cheap, dry, no oak), how many calories you are drinking, and the questions people keep asking, from Diet Coke to Pinot Noir.
Table of Contents
What Is Red Wine and Coke Called?
In Spain it is kalimotxo (also spelled calimocho), born in the Basque Country in 1972 when a fiesta bar found its red wine had gone off and hid the taste with cola. In South Africa it is katemba, a braai and township classic that goes back decades. Croatia calls it bambus, Chile calls it jote, Germany calls it Korea, and Australia mostly calls it “red wine and Coke”, which lacks poetry but gets the point across.
How to Make Red Wine and Coke Properly
- Ratio: half and half is the classic. Go 60/40 in the wine’s favour if you like it drier, 40/60 if you want it sweeter.
- Glass: a tall glass full of ice. This is a long drink, not a wine glass moment.
- Order: wine first, then Coke, poured slowly down the side so it keeps its fizz. Do not stir hard.
- Garnish: a wedge of lemon or lime. A squeeze cuts the sweetness and makes the whole thing taste grown-up.
- Temperature: everything cold. Warm red and flat Coke is where the bad reputation comes from.
One 250 ml serve made half and half is about 125 ml of wine and 125 ml of Coke. That is roughly one Australian standard drink, which is worth remembering when they go down as easily as these do.
The Best Red Wine to Mix With Coke
Cheap, dry, fruity and young. That is the whole brief. Cola brings sugar, vanilla and caramel, so the wine’s job is to bring fruit and a bit of grip. Anything oaked, expensive or old is wasted; the cola flattens the oak and you cannot taste the difference between a ten-dollar bottle and a fifty-dollar one. Save the good stuff.
- Shiraz: the best all-rounder. Dark fruit and pepper hold up to the cola. Cheap South Australian Shiraz is the classic Australian katemba wine. See our Shiraz guide.
- Cabernet Merlot blends: the supermarket special. Soft, fruity, works fine.
- Tempranillo or Garnacha: the authentic Spanish choice. Cheap Rioja is what the Basques use.
- Merlot: soft and plummy, disappears politely into the drink.
- Pinot Noir: the surprise. Lighter and brighter, it makes a more refreshing, almost cherry-cola version. Do not use a good one.
Avoid sweet reds (Moscato-style or lambrusco dolce), which make the drink cloying, and avoid anything with heavy oak or high tannin like a serious Cabernet, which turns bitter.
Drink One Tonight
100 Million % South Australia Shiraz 2021
The bottle we would actually use. Buy two: one for the katemba, one for the barbecue after.
- Cheap, dry, fruity South Australian Shiraz, exactly what the drink wants
- Under ten dollars, so nobody weeps when the Coke goes in
- Also a perfectly decent Tuesday-night red on its own
- Bonus: a few years of age has softened it
- Not a wine to impress anyone with. That is rather the point.
How Many Calories Are in Red Wine and Coke?
A 250 ml glass made half and half is about 105 calories from the Coke (125 ml, roughly 42 calories per 100 ml) plus about 100 from the wine (125 ml of a 13% red), so around 205 calories, or 860 kilojoules. That is more than a glass of wine and less than a pint of beer. A 250 ml can or glass of Coke on its own is about 105 calories, which answers the other question people keep typing.
With Diet Coke or Coke Zero the cola part drops to almost nothing, so the drink lands around 100 calories, the same as the wine alone. Diet cola also tastes sharper and less sweet in the mix, which some people prefer. Our wine calorie calculator will do the wine half for any bottle and pour.
Is Red Wine and Coke Bad for You?
It is not worse than drinking the wine and the Coke separately, and it is not a health drink either. You get the alcohol from the wine and the sugar from the cola in one glass, and the sweetness makes it easy to drink more than you meant to. The old myth that mixing alcohol with a fizzy drink gets you drunk faster has a grain of truth: carbonation can speed up alcohol absorption a little. Treat it as a long, easy drink, count your standard drinks, and use the diet cola if the sugar bothers you. The Australian alcohol guidelines suggest no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 in a day; a 250 ml katemba is about one.
Variations Worth Trying
- White wine and Coke: yes, it works, though it tastes more like a lolly. Cheap dry white, half and half, plenty of lime. Red wine with soda water is the drier, lower-calorie cousin.
- Katemba with a twist: a splash of orange juice or a slice of orange, the South African way.
- Kalimotxo with a shot: some Spanish bars add a splash of blackberry liqueur. Careful.
- Cherry cola version: cherry cola and Pinot Noir, oddly good.
- Mulled version in winter: honestly, just make mulled wine instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is red wine and Coke called?
Kalimotxo (or calimocho) in Spain, katemba in South Africa, bambus in Croatia and jote in Chile. In Australia it mostly just gets called red wine and Coke.
Can you mix any red wine with Coke?
Any dry red works. Cheap, fruity and unoaked is best. Avoid sweet reds, which get cloying, and avoid heavily oaked or tannic reds, which turn bitter with cola.
Does Pinot Noir go with Coke?
Yes, and it makes a lighter, brighter, cherry-cola style version. Use a cheap one; a good Pinot is wasted in the mix.
Is red wine and Diet Coke any good?
It is drier and sharper than the regular version and cuts the calories roughly in half, to about 100 per 250 ml glass. Plenty of people prefer it.
How many calories in a 250 ml Coke?
About 105 calories, or 440 kilojoules. Mixed half and half with red wine, a 250 ml glass comes to roughly 205 calories.
Where does red wine and Coke come from?
The Basque Country in Spain, where it was named kalimotxo in 1972, though South Africans were mixing katemba long before anyone wrote the recipe down.
If mixing wine is your thing, the Spanish got there first: see our guide to the best wine for sangria.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It keeps the wine flowing and the reviews honest.
User Review
( votes)
Sip smarter, subscribe now!
One short, useful email a week: pairings that actually work, honest reviews, and your free Food Pairing e-book the moment you join. No spam, no snobbery, and your inbox stays classy.
