Sangria, one of those drinks that can really drink anytime of the year. Red sangria is more fall and winter time I feel. Where you add more apples and pears. White is more summer with all the bright fruit you can put in. Peaches, strawberries, mango, pineapple all those fruits that are so refreshing. I personally do not like my sangria too sweet, so I don’t typically order it in a restaurant. If I want sangria I usually will make it myself, so I can taste the sweetness of the fruit and then figure out how much extra sweetness I need to add.
The past couple of weekends, we have been heading out for hikes, around the Cleveland Metro Parks. You have never been to a CMP, they are just spectacular. There are so many paths you can take. Overlooks, waterfalls, caves and then you all have the Cleveland Zoo as one of the parks as well mixed in there. Today however was an amazingly hot summer day. We have been having a really hot summer, and I’m loving every second of it. But on the car ride home I was feeling like a really nice clean, crisp, refreshingly light cocktail. I knew we already had peaches and oranges at home, as well as white wine and cointreau. Making a pitcher of white sangria it was. Quick easy and not much thinking involved.
I took two peaches, one orange, and about 15 basil leaves, along with the wine, cointreau and a little bit of agave syrup.
I sliced the orange in rounds. The peach in thin half moons. Tore the basil off the steam and threw it all into the pitcher.
Once the fruit was all in the pitcher, I had the cointreau. Now since I was only making half a batch, I only used 1/2 cup of cointreau. A full batch is 2 bottles of wine and 1 cup of cointreau or any orange flavored liquor for a white sangria.
Cointreau is now added, so now let’s add the wine. I chose to use Chalk Hill Chardonnay. This wine is a very dry white. Very crisp for a hot summer afternoon. Perfect for just after a hike and something too sip on. I used the whole bottle and just poured it in. Now I found that I needed to add just a touch of agave syrup to this. I wanted dry but not too dry. I wanted it sweet but not too sweet. So I added about 1tsp of agave and it did the trick. Now if you prefer sweeter sangrias you should use a high sugar count on the wine you pick for this drink.
Once everything was in place, I stired it around a few times, so everything could marry. Placed in the fridge for about 30mins to chill and to allow all the flavors to come together. Get that fruit to macerate, in the wine and cointreau.
Once chilled, place some ice in a wine glass and pour your sangria into your glass. Scoop out some fruit and place in the glass. Relax on your patio and enjoy the sweet days of summer, with this refreshing drink.
Prep Time 45mins
Serves 2-3
Ingredients
- 1 bottle of white wine of your preference
- 1/2 cup cointreau or any orange flavored liquor
- 1 orange sliced in circles
- 2 peaches sliced in thin half moons
- 15 basil leaves
- agave syrup
- ice
Directions
- In a pitcher, place all your cut up fruit and basil leaves.
- Pour your wine and cointreau. Stir. Taste. If you feel you need it to be more sweet, this is where you would add agave to the pitcher. Add only to your desired sweetness.
- Place in the fridge for 30 mins or longer.
- Fill wine glass with ice, place some fruit from the pitcher in your glass. Pour the sangria and ENJOY!
Note – This is only a half serving of sangria. Most Sangria recipes call for two bottles, and usually serves 4-6 people.
