Joe Moryl wrote:From observation, it seems that it is not unusual for Italian and Portuguese manual workers to mix their wine with spritzy water to drink with lunch. Probably refreshing and keeps one from falling down drunk into a ditch, etc.
That's not just a practice in Italy or Portugal, either. When I lived in the Osttirol of Austria in the '70s, "Wein gespritzt" was a common lunchtime beverage and consisted of a dry Austrian white wine mixed with soda water, the original wine cooler.
Mark Lipton