Cold duck

Become a Premium Member today!

Name for a punch containing alcohol, which essentially consists of wine and sparkling wine. The drink was served after the meal as an alternative to hot mocha and was therefore called "cold end". The name "cold duck" was derived from a corruption of the name. According to legend, Clemens Wenzeslaus (1739-1812), the last Elector of Trier, was the inventor of this special form of punch. On a whim, he had a bottle each of Moselle wine, Rhine wine and champagne poured together in the evening on the terrace of Koblenz Castle and seasoned with lemon and lemon balm. According to today's recipe, wine is mixed with at least 25% semi-sparkling wine or sparkling wine and lemon juice, lemon balm, vanilla and a little sugar are added. The cold duck is chilled with ice cubes and served cold, true to its name. It is also marketed ready bottled. Harold Borgman, the owner of Pontchartrain Wine Cellars in Detroit (Michigan), brought cold duck to the USA in 1937 under the translation Cold Duck. He replaced the white wine with Californian red wine. A special wine vessel is also called "Cold Duck"; see Carafe. See also lists of other drinks under the keywords wine-based drinks, mixed wine drinks and special wines.

Voices of our members

As honorary chairman of the Domäne Wachau, it is the easiest and quickest way for me to access the wein.plus encyclopaedia when I have questions. The certainty of receiving well-founded and up-to-date information here makes it an indispensable guide.
Hans-Georg Schwarz
Ehrenobmann der Domäne Wachau (Wachau)

Welcome back!

Cold duck

Voices of our members

The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

EVENTS NEAR YOU