Sangria Summer Vol. 2

Well, the experimenting with the sangria-ish recipes has had its ups and downs over this week. I didn’t post last week, like I should have, but here’s the run down of what’s happened:

Test Batch 1

Not every batch is a success.

So, I felt like I should experiment using kiwi. I grabbed a random bottle of white wine, fruit, and set to work. Except, to my chagrin, I had grabbed a bottle of dry white wine. You know what doesn’t help an experimental sangria? A dry wine.

The fruit I used in this was primarily apple, kiwi … and then I hit mistake No. 2: I added lemon.

Now, this wasn’t exactly horrible — it was definitely drinkable, but just not really … you know … good. But as always, I took mental notes, and here’s my observations:

1. Get a sweet wine for the base. Sounds like a no-brainer, but for a non-wine knowledgeable guy like me, write it down and remember it.
2. Kiwi sinks to the bottom. I think it’s trying to find its way home to New Zealand.
3. Lemon overpowers the taste of everything else, so if you add lemon, a little goes a long way.

Test Batch 2

I failed to take pictures of the sangria, so here's the awesome wings we had.

My friend @Pantster was having a BBQ for his girlfriend, and asked if I would make some sangria for it. Done and done! I made 2 different kinds: One that I call “Dreamy” and the other was “Lemonade.”

Dreamy:

Dreamy was a refined batch from the first batch of sangria I made. Here’s what I did:

1. Peeled/juiced 2.5 oranges. The other .5, I basically cut into small pieces for fruit in the mix.
2. Peeled/juiced half a lemon, half a lime.
3. Cut up 1 apple into tiny pieces, juiced another apple.
4. Cut up about a quarter of a honeydew. I juiced the shell, cause hey, why not?
5. Wine choice was a Yellowtail Rose, with a added splash of Yellowtail Riesling.
6. Added ice and half a liter of club soda before serving.

I let it all sit overnight. Let me tell you, it smelled great. It went over well at the BBQ.

Observations:

1. I added water to it while I let it sit overnight. This was a mistake, as after I added the club soda and ice, it washed out the taste. Still good, but not as punchy as it should have been.
2. Next time, adding more wine, and probably some cherries.
3. Going to marinate half the apple chunks in wine first, then add freshly cut apples 2 hrs or so before serving to give a crisper, cleaner taste.

How can you refuse the Presidente? (What I was drinking after the sangria was gone.)

Lemonade:

I’ve been toying with this idea for a little while. When I use the juicer to make lemonade, it’s just apple, lemon and water. I applied that basic principle to this sangria.

1. I used a 1 lemon: 2 apple ratio for the juicer. This particular batch was 1.5 juiced lemons, and 3 juiced apples.
2. I diced up the remaining lemon, and another whole apple.
3. I threw in about 1.25L of Yellowtail Riesling.
4. I cut up about 1/4 of a honeydew, added the fruit, juiced the shell.
5. About 5-6 hours before serving, I cut up and added 4 large strawberries.
6. Added 1/2 liter of club soda and ice before serving.

Now, personally, I didn’t like this batch. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great in my mind. I thought the lemon wasn’t pronounced enough of a taste, and the strawberries quickly overwhelmed it. However, the folks at the BBQ dug it — some saying they preferred it over Dreamy.

Observations:

1. Cutting up the lemon was a mistake. While people love eating the apple, biting in to the random lemon was a bit much for some.
2. Next time, I may do a 1:1 lemon/apple, and then juice 1 or 2 more apple for more of a lemon punch.
3. I’ll add the same amount of strawberries, but I’ll add them around 2 hours before serving.
4. Again, next time I won’t add water to it.
5. This one was made about 8 hrs prior to the BBQ — I may make the next batch like 4 hrs before the gathering.

(NOTE: When I say “juiced,” this means I’m actually using my handy-dandy fruit/vege juicer. Also, all apples are “Red Delicious” apples. I may try a Granny Smith in the mix soon.)

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