07/24/07 Summer Wine Cocktails

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Recently I taught a class exploring summer cocktails made with wine. Although I was quite the skeptic as I am usually a purist when it comes to my wine, I think I have changed my mind. Okay so how many of us ever really had a fabulous Sangria - Maybe in Spain, but certainly not at home. Well I am here to tell you I have a new attitude towards wine based cocktails. I discovered and created, or tweaked, quite a few recipes in preparation for the class I taught. The key is to have plenty of time between the preparation of the cocktails and the serving of the beverage. It needs time to blend and create a synergistic flavor profile. Two of the class favorites were unusually good the first was a Sauvignon Blanc studded with just the right amount of fresh ginger and lime. It cried out for a big martini glass and to be served with Asian food. The second was Madrid lemonade made with red wine  okay with Cabernet Sauvignon but much better when made with Merlot. It was just a great quaffing wine and both were very refreshing. Neither of those wine cocktails were very sweet and I expected them to be the favorites  but it turned out the number one choice was a red wine cocktail made with inexpensive Pinot Noir and strawberries, it was quite a bit sweeter than all of the others. No matter how we try to fight it most of us talk dry and still drink a little sweet when we can. To get a copy of these recipes and a few others visit our website at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.