Chardonnay and Vodka Sangria

We recently hosted a supper club for a group of our friends. To prevent myself from spending too much time making some specialty cocktails for our guests I decided to make a batch of sangria. Being able to prepare drinks the night before a party can be extremely beneficial and allow you more time to spend with your guests or preparing other food/drinks. Sangria is also a tasty party pleaser. Feel free to tweak the ingredients some depending on what you have in the fridge or if you have a certain flavor you want to stick out more than others. Our primary ingredients were apples and oranges. I highly recommend buying some quality apples for your sangria. We used Honeycrisp apples as they are my personal favorite (any apple will work but red delicious or Granny Smith apples are not going to give the sangria a great sweet apple flavor like many other varieties will). Don’t worry about making the sangria too strong either as you will need some club soda to serve with the sangria to give it carbonation. Club soda can also be used to tone down the potency of the sangria in case some of your guests find it to be too strong. The recipe below worked out very well for a party for 10 people. We had just a little bit of sangria left over at the end of the night!

Unoaked Chardonnay and Vodka Sangria Ingredients:

• 3 Bottles Unoaked Chardonnay
• 1 Cup Black Raspberry Vodka (Feel free to try another flavored vodka)
• 1/2 Cup Honey (we used a cinnamon infused honey but this is not necessary)
• 6 Apples (We recommend Honeycrisp)
• 4 Oranges
• 2 Limes
• 2 Lemons
• 5 Cinnamon Sticks (More for Garnishes if Desired)
• 7 Whole Cloves
• Club Soda
• Fresh Mint (Optional for Garnishes)

Chardonnay & Vodka Sangria Steps:

1. Core and chop 5 apples, quarter 3 oranges, both lemons and both limes.
2. Combine the chopped/quartered fruit in a large glass pitcher or container (a bowl can also be used) with the unoaked Chardonnay, Vodka, Honey, Cloves, and Cinnamon Sticks. Stir gently. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Strain the sangria in to a pitcher if you did not store it in the container you will be serving out of.
4. Core and chop your remaining apple and peel and chop the remaining orange. Mix these together in a bowl (We added some lemon juice to prevent browning).
5. Rim your serving glasses with sugar (Optional)
6. Add 1-2 spoonfuls of your fresh chopped apple/orange mixture in to your glass
7. Fill the glass 2/3 full with sangria
8. Top your glass with club soda
9. Add fresh mint garnish if desired. Enjoy your sangria!