Earlier this year, Lady Gaga (Stefani to her friends) took Variety’s Lie Detector Test. After being hooked up to the polygraph with a tangled jumble of wires and sensors, the visibly nervous singer was probed about her career, costumes, friends, life…
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Lady’s Gaga’s favorite red wine combination
And she gave some very interesting, generally truthful answers – one concerned the lyrics to her 2008 single Just Dance. Some fans misinterpreted the opening line as “red wine” (it is, in fact, “RedOne”); that lead on to another question about, how Gaga orders red wine at the bar.
“With maraschino cherries and Diet Coke” she replied, and while the lie detector didn’t flinch (“truthful” came the response), the singer’s fans were intrigued – red wine and coke? An odd combination.
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Kalimotxo, a summer classic in Spain since the 70s
Maybe Gaga was introduced to the red wine and coke combo during one of her trips to Spain, where it has been very popular among young Spaniards for years – especially during the regional summer fiestas and verbenas.
In Spain, it’s called Kalimotxo (Calimocho in Castilian Spanish) and its popularity is easily explained – it’s very cheap, as generally, standard house wine is used – not the more expensive reservas. It’s also very simple to make, with just three ingredients: cheap red wine, Coca-Cola or Pepsi and ice. Usually served in a one liter plastic cups called Minis – a group of friends will club together and buy a Mini of Kalimotxo and share it between them.
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When and where was Kalimotxo invented?
It is said that Kalimotxo was invented in the Basque Country in the early 1970s. During the San Nicolás del Puerto Viejo de Algorta fiestas in Getxo in August 1972, a consignment of red wine was discovered to be picado – with an unpleasant, vinegary aftertaste. Rather than let it go to waste, Jon Elorriaga, Agustin ‘Tintxu’ Martínez and their pals had the idea of taking the edge of it by mixing it with something sweet – a common practice, but usually using Casera – Spanish lemonade. Why Coke was added instead of Casera isn’t known.
Kalimotxo is consumed in other countries, for example, Argentina. Just how Lady Gaga stumbled across it is a mystery. Who knows, perhaps she was introduced to the delights of Kalimotxo during her intimate performance at Madrid’s Ocho y Medio club in February 2009 before she became a global phenomenon.
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