With the last three-day weekend of summer 2022 a mere 48 hours away, it’s time to start planning your backyard brouhaha. While shaking or stirring up some cocktails might feel like a good play, you don’t want to be stuck behind a home bar all day and night. That’s where batched or premixed cocktails come in.
Friends, the time has come to make rosé sangria.
Rosé wine is all about al fresco drinking — or “day drinking” if you’re not fancy. Add in some key ingredients and a chilled bottle of rosé goes from “nice!” to “party-ready.” It also gets a little boozier and that’s kind of what you want for a backyard Labor Day Weekend drink, right?
The best part? You can prep this the day before and have everything prechilled and frozen. That means your actual time making jugs of sangria this weekend will be about 30 seconds. Seriously, it’ll probably take longer to pull the cork from the bottle than make this drink if you’re prepped.
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Rosé Sangria
Ingredients:
- 1 bottle of pre-chilled rosé wine
- 1 cup triple sec
- 1 cup brandy
- 1 can of blood orange soda
- 1/2 cup frozen berries
- 1/2 cup frozen peaches
- 1/2 cup frozen apples
- 1/2 cup frozen lemon wedges
- Fresh mint
- Pinch of salt
- Ice
This is a very fast and loose recipe. I used Hennessy VS because it was around on my shelf. I like Pellegrino Blood Orange soda but you can use any orange or lemon soda you have around — even Squirt (this is where the bulk of the sweetness comes from so don’t skip it). The rest is pretty standard stuff.
As for the wine, I used Leslie Reserve Rosé of Pinot Noir. It’s a little spendier but delicious. Remember the cardinal rule of cocktail mixing: The better the base alcohol, the better the final product. It’s a nice, zesty, and spritely wine that works well as a sipper (without too much sweetness). It’s a nice wine on its own but really shines as a sangria. The best rule to follow is to use a wine you actually like to drink.
What You’ll Need:
- Large pitcher
- Highball glasses
- Paring knife
- Measuring cup
- Large spoon
- Straws
Method:
- Slice all the fruit into wedges and place in the freezer until frozen through.
- Add the wine, triple sec, brandy, soda, and all the fruit to a large pitcher with a big pinch of salt (about the size of a large pea). Stir until well integrated.
- Add ice and mint to a fresh glass and pour the sangria over. Scoop some fruit on top of the drink and serve.
Bottom Line:
This is as delicious as it’s refreshing. The rosé is light and has a thin line of leathery body underneath all the fruit. It also isn’t overly sweetened. A lot of American sangria recipes call for syrup of some sort — definitely not necessary. The fruits leech sugars into the drink gradually and the orange soda adds more than enough sweetness.
The brandy is just there with a hint of dried grape and maybe a whisper of vanilla. The triple sec adds some orange vibe but those two additions are tertiary to the wine and fresh fruit. That said, this has a bit of punch thanks to that brandy and triple sec — it’s grown up fruit punch in the literal and metaphorical senses with a real wine base that’s light yet well-rounded.
This is fun. It’s very fun. What more could you possibly crave at the end of the summer?