Ziemes Martini Apfelsaft

Ziemes Martini Apfelsaft is made with dry vermouth and apple juice, served at room temperature in a collins glass without ice. The name translates from Latvian and German as 'Winter Martini with Apple Juice,' with ziemes (or ziemas) meaning winter in Latvian. No spirits beyond the dry vermouth are included, making it a low-alcohol, non-stirred serve.

Dry vermouth is an aromatized wine infused with herbs, botanicals, and bittering agents, giving it a complex, slightly bitter, and herbal character that provides an interesting counterpoint to apple juice's natural sweetness and crisp acidity. The combination echoes a simplified, lower-alcohol Martini structure — using vermouth's complexity as the main flavor element — with apple juice softening and fruitifying the herbal bitterness. Served at room temperature, the aromatics are more pronounced than they would be chilled.

Dry vermouth is typically bottled at 16–18% ABV. When combined with a roughly equal or greater volume of non-alcoholic apple juice, Ziemes Martini Apfelsaft produces a finished drink in the range of 6–10% ABV depending on the vermouth-to-juice ratio. This places it comfortably in the low-alcohol aperitif category. It is described as a winter drink, suggesting consumption during the cold season in its Latvian-German cultural context.