Sangraia Love, with notes on how I went about making it

What follows is the recipe that is the inspiration (that makes a pitcher-sized amount), line by line, where each line is followed by what I actually did in making a cooler full of the yum for final faire weekend. All ingredients just get dumped straight into the container.


Official fancy cooking magazine title: Peach-Riesling Sangrai.


1 750-ml bottle dry Riesling
I've got 3 bottles I picked up at Bev-Mo; I'll start with that.

1/2 cup peach schnapps
Hmm, so that's a cup and a half since I'm tripling it...shake bottle. There's so little left - what the hell, use the whole thing.

1 1/2 cups white cranberry-peach drink
I know from past experience this drink will knock a person on his or her ear after a glassful, and the cooler's looking mighty empty. Drop in 2 to 2 1/2 bottles of the drink.

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.
And I'm making this in the last second; do I really want to take the time to measure 9 tablespoons out? Nah. Halve a couple lemons. Yup, they're nice and juicy. I'll call that good.

2 tablespoons sugar
To add up to 6 tablespoons of sugar - seriously? No effing way. I do use 2, for a token sense of completeness.

1/2 vanilla bean, sliced sideways.
Damn these things are expensive! But the vanilla bean really makes it special. I use a whole one - use the thumb to scrape out the seeds, and deposit them and the beans themselves for extra good measure.

2 1/2-inch-thick lemon slices
I've got 2 lemons leftover from the store, in case I didn't use enough lemon juice before, I'll slice up the lot.

2 1/2 inch-thick orange slices
I've got 2 oranges from the store; slice up the whole lot.

2 peaches, cut into wedges
I bought 3 peaches at the store - is there really a thing as too much tastey fruit in sangria? Not where peaches are concerned - use the lot.

10 raspberries
And I bought 2 containers of raspberries. Add in one - stir it up. How does the balance of sangria goodness to fruit look? Sure, we can use more raspberries. Empty in the second container.

Ice


There ya go! For best results, let it sit overnight so the flavors can all blend.