Tuesday, September 22, 2009

White Wine Sangria

I made this white wine sangria for a refreshing drink during our food blogger potluck. It's a compilation of many googled sangria recipes and what I thought looked pretty!

1 orange, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 lime, thinly sliced
~ 1 cup stemmed and quartered strawberries
4 oz Brandy
2 bottles white wine (see note below)
healthy squeeze of agave to sweeten
~2 cups chilled club soda

Place the fruit in the bottom of the glass. Add the agave and Brandy, and stir to mix. Add the two bottles of white wine. (Note: I went to Trader Joe's and asked their suggestion for a sangria I was making. I forget the name and already recycled the bottles, but it was a crisp apertif from Portugal. Don't be afraid to ask for suggestions, especially at Trader Joe's - they're great!)

Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Right before serving add club soda.

It's traditional to serve with a long-handled wooden spoon. This enables guests to use it either to help spoon out fruit into their glass, or to hold it back as they pour, whichever is their preference.

7 comments:

Justin said...

the brandy is interesting -- i don't think i've heard of that before

Anonymous said...

Darnit - I wished I would have asked - most sangrias have sugar in them, so that's why I passed.

It looked so pretty too!

Christina said...

Oh, I thought you'd had some, Biz! I meant to tell you that I had used agave too - I thought that might be better for you than sugar! Also, it is supposed to be great to dissolve in drinks both hot and cold, so I opted for it so the sugar wouldn't be gritty! Sorry! Next time! :)

Justin - some recipes I googled around w/ had a bunch of diff. hard liquors to add in. None mentioned Brandy except Wikipedia's article on sangrias. It was one of the few we actually have on hand (for egg nog in the winter) so I went w/ it!! It was great!

Anonymous said...

If it was me, that wooden spoon would be used to eat out of the jar!;-) (When nobody's looking of course)

That's so cool you used agave. Was that specially for Biz?

Christina said...

haha Sophia! ;)

I used agave both b/c I thought it might be healthier for Biz (I wasn't sure if it was still too much natural sugars?) and also b/c it's supposed to be fantastic for sweetening drinks b/c it dissolves instantly, unlike sugar. I'm not a fan of sugar alternatives like Sweet 'n Lo, b/c they do dissolve easily, but to me they leave a gross after-taste. This was a happy medium and I'm really glad I got it - it's delicious! Just the perfect amount of sweet for me (I don't have a sweet tooth) and also creamy and great consistancy. It's going to remain a pantry staple from now on in my kitchen!

jason said...

Guessing the Portuguese wine from Trader Joe's you grabbed was the Espiral Vinho Verde. The post has a picture that may jog your memory...

Christina said...

You are correct Jason! Thank you! :)