White Wine Sangria Adventure
At every turn of the car on my way to a Fourth of July party a few years back, I held my breath. Please, please, please don’t let the top of the huge drink dispenser come off and spill white wine sangria everywhere. The wooden cap just rested on the blown-glass-effect plastic base. It didn’t screw in.
This is what I get for getting the stylish looking container on sale for $10: a high stakes booze delivery.
The sangria idea came from my parents, who tried some at a local pizza place in Vermont back in 2014. “Dad had a very nice white sangria,” Mom wrote in an email. “It was white wine — probably something sweet like Riesling — peach purée, lemon and lime juices, and ginger beer. I tasted it, and it was really good.”
In July, the peaches start to come in from Palisade, Colorado. They usually get eaten standing over the sink, juices dribbling. Sometimes the whole bunch will ripen faster than you can eat them — perfect for my first attempt at making white wine sangria. About.wine.com had a promising recipe that now redirects to The Spruce Eats site, where the recipe has been updated recently.
My version of the original is not scaled for a punch bowl. It’s enough to fill a giant-ass drink dispenser and provide seconds or thirds to a thirsty crowd. Plus you can do most of the prep the day before, freeing up time for, oh I don’t know, making spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves, gigandes plaki, and mini chicken meatballs.
Back to the holiday adventure. I parked the car and raced around to the back. Miraculously the dispenser top had stayed put. No lost servings. No errant citrus slices. No sticky mess. Once positioned in my friend’s kitchen, the sangria disappeared quickly.
Last weekend, I made the drink again for a gathering, setting out a ladle for serving the fruit as well. The farthest the jug had to move was from one side of the counter to the other. Ahhh.
White Wine Sangria
Makes a very large amount.
3 liters chilled pinot grigio (I used two 1.5-liter bottles of Yellow Tail)
1⅓ C. white sugar
5 naval oranges, pithy ends removed, sliced
1 lemon, pithy ends removed, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 – 2 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced, skin on
As much as 1 container of fresh strawberries, tops removed and sliced
2 oz. gin
½ liter club soda, chilled
Ice cubes
Prepare the fruit. If you can’t find naval oranges, other kinds such as Valencia will work. Just cut the wedges to remove the seeds first. Same with any lemons that have lots of seeds.
To prepare the day before: Add the fruit to a 4.5-quart mixing bowl. Carefully pour in the first bottle of white wine. Depending on the fruit volume, you might not have enough room for the whole bottle. If not, save and refrigerate the rest of the wine.
Gently stir in the sugar and the gin using a wooden spoon. Cover well and refrigerate. The next day, carefully scoop the fruit into your drink dispenser, pour in the liquid, and add the rest of the white wine. To serve, mix in the club soda and enough ice cubes to keep it cold.
To prepare on the day: At least an hour before serving, add all the fruit to the drink dispenser. Pour in the wine, the gin, and the sugar. Stir together well using a long wooden spoon. Right before serving, add the club soda and then enough ice cubes to keep it cold.
Optional fruit for this that I’ve seen but not tried includes diced mango, cubed pineapple, fresh blueberries, raspberries, and kiwi. Instead of the gin, you could add brandy or rum. Citrus-flavored seltzer could work instead of the club soda. But I will say that the tiny bit of gin does play nicely with the fruit.
If you happen to have leftovers, remove the fruit before refrigerating the liquid. Otherwise the citrus rinds can turn it bitter. Refresh the drink in a cocktail glass with ice cubes, a splash of gin, and a slice or two of fresh fruit.
