White Sangria Recipe

We like to make sangria. It's currently our favorite mixed drink. Typically, it's more of a summer drink because it's full of fruit and it's easier to find a greater variety of fruits in the summer, but we like to make it all year long. We don't discriminate, hehehe. ;) When I make it, I like to tweet a picture of my pitcher (ha) because it always looks so pretty. Then, I get @replies asking for my recipe and it's really hard to send a recipe in a 140 character tweet. So, I thought I'd share on my blog and then I could refer people to this post when they ask.

I've tried lots of recipes that I've found online and have since modified them to our liking. That being said, I don't think I've made sangria the same way twice. Use this recipe as more of a guideline, substituting amounts of alcohol and fruits to your liking. I don't think there's a wrong way to make sangria.

• 1 bottle of white wine. I like to use a Pinot Gris most often. I don't recommend using an overly sweet wine at all though. For white sangria, one whole bottle of white wine is not optional.
• 2-3 cups of vanilla vodka. I love the flavor that the vanilla adds, but this is totally optional. You can use any flavored vodka or even a plain one if you prefer.
• Fruit. Of any kind. For the sangria pictured I used 2 green apples, a handful of raspberries, 1 orange, the juice of 1 orange, 1 lemon, and 1 nectarine. Slice the fruit. In the past, I've used oranges, pomegranates, and cranberries for a Christmas theme. You could also use all stone fruit or all berries for a themed sangria. 
• Here, you can add 1/2 cup of simple syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water, bring to a boil and whisk until sugar dissolves. Cool before adding.). Again, this is only if you prefer a sweeter drink. Totally optional and you can add more or less to your taste.
• I like to mix this up with my hand if you can imagine that. You could use a long wooden spoon if you're not adventurous like myself.
• Then you chill it in the fridge for about 3-4 hours. The longer, the better.
• Serve over ice (or not if you prefer). Top off with some club soda or Sprite for some fizz. Add some of the fruit to the glass to make it pretty. ALWAYS (if you're using it that is) put a slice of green apple in the glass and eat it at the end. It's the best. You'll see what I mean.
• With this sangria, I saved some raspberries and we're going to pop them in our glasses when we serve it up because raspberries totally break down after sitting in the sangria for hours. They look really pretty in the glass. 

That's it. Aside from all the slicing of fruit, it's pretty easy to make. It's soooo yummy that all the slicing it totally worth it. It makes me feel creative too. Oh. And some recipes called for flavored liqueurs, like peach or whatever. We've made sangria with peach schnapps before and it was a good additive but not necessary. Like I said, follow a recipe to start out, but change it up and make it your own.