Red wine sangria and white wine sangria
The American holiday Thanksgiving is racing up on us and we are probably all busy planning our menus. It seems that most people have a pretty standard list of dishes that they make, but go with the standard soda, milk, coffee to drink.
It makes a very nice change of pace to offer a wonderful drink recipe to highlight the harvest season also. Both of these sangrias are light and refreshing, just sweet enough to give you a great lift but not cloying (and I am not a sweet wine drinker in any way).
Sangria recipes look a tiny bit complex but really they are just open and dump in a big container and toss in the fridge to let it cool down.
To make a great recipe even better, sangrias are perfect for the holiday season, because they absolutely beg to be made in advance. They really need time to cool down, as the colder it is, the better it tastes. So a day or two in advance of Thanksgiving, you can whip this stuff together and stick it in the back of the refrigerator and forget it until the big day. Talk about no stress recipes!
Red Wine Sangria
1 bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 lemon cut into wedges
1 orange cut into wedges
1 lime cut into wedges
2 tablespoons sugar
1 shot glass Cointreau
2 shots of gin
1 cup of sliced strawberries or raspberries
1 small can of diced pineapples (with juice)
4 cups ginger ale
Preparation:
Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon, orange and lime into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and add sugar, Cointreau and gin. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale just before serving (to keep the bubbles as long as possible).
White Wine Sangria
1 Bottle of white wine (Riesling, Albarino, Chablis, Gewurztraminer, Rioja, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc)
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup white grape juice
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup sliced white grapes (seedless)
1 tangerine sliced
1/2 pineapple sliced
1 cup club soda
PREPARATION:
Pour wine and vodka in the pitcher and add sliced grapes, tangerine and pineapple. Next add sugar and stir gently. Chill mixture for at least one hour. Add club soda just before serving.
