Sassy Summer Sangrias

There's nothing quite like sipping an icy cold glass of sangria in the summer. A sweet and fruity red wine sangria is certainly delicious, but have you tried making your own white wine sangria? The lighter white wine flavor can take on fruits with brighter flavors, including fruits like peaches, raspberries, mangoes, kiwis and even rhubarb. Here are a few of my favorite white wine sangria recipes. They're not just delicious -- they're sassy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Sangria
(from Blueprint Magazine, Summer '07)

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 whole vanilla bean, halved and scraped
5 stalks rhubarb, 4 coarsely chopped, 1 cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
4 ounces brandy
1 bottle sparkling rose
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
2 limes, juiced

In a saucepan, combine granulated sugar, 1 cup water, and the vanilla bean. Simmer until sugar dissolves, turn off heat, and add chopped rhubarb. Cover for 5 minutes. Break up rhubarb with a spoon and set aside for 30 minutes, then strain.

Crush 12 berries into the brandy in a bowl; let sit for 30 minutes. Strain. Combine brandy mixture, rose, red wine, superfine sugar, lime juice, and the rhubarb syrup in a pitcher, and stir in rhubarb slices and rest of strawberries. Serves 6.

(I always leave out the vanilla bean and it's still delicious.)

Sangria Flora
(from Food & Wine Magazine, July 2008)

Ingredients:

One 750-milliliter bottle Sauvignon Blanc
1 1/2 cups St-Germain elderflower liqueur (or elderflower cordial)
1/4 cup Cointreau
6 strawberries, sliced 1/4 inch thick
6 raspberries
2 peaches, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 orange, thinly sliced crosswise
1 pound green and red grapes
Ice

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours, or cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve in wineglasses over ice.

Do you have a favorite sangria recipe? Please leave a comment and share your favorite white wine sangria ingredients!