White Wine Sangria

Well, Summer is finally here in the Pacific Northwest.  You know what that means?
Right...
Get out there and enjoy it, because usually Summer is one month long up here and that month is almost over.

This is a great and refreshing beverage for a hot day, and very easy to make ahead too.  I liked the flavors of the Grand Mariner with the wine and citrus, but you could use any orange liqueur or Triple Sec.  I just happened to have Grand Mariner on hand... because it is my favorite!

A friend gave me the original recipe, which sounded great, so as usual, I made some simplifications and here it is. I tried to find the original recipe online to link to, but it does not seem to be out there.  The book is The Life of the Party and it was called Garden Sangria.  Garden Sangria.... sounds very fancy! Doesn't it now?
I kind of like Beach Sangria, or maybe Deck Sangria, or even Dock Sangria. 
Garden? 
Sounds like I might need a hat and behave very, very well. 
Usually I am well behaved, but not always... not always...

This makes quite a lot... but the original recipe says it serves 20!
20?  You mean like 2- 0???
Surely you jest...

1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 cup vodka, preferably lemon vodka
1 cup Grand Mariner, or Orange Curacao
1/2 cup sugar, or citrus simple syrup
2 bottles dry white wine
4-6 cups orange seltzer, or club soda

Slice up the citrus, removing the ends. Remove any seeds, because they don't taste good.
Add the fruit to the bottom of a large pitcher. Add the vodka and the orange liqueur. Let sit for a couple hours (if you can, but I did not).  Stir in sugar, or better yet, make a simple syrup from the citrus ends and 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water. Simmer for 10 minutes and strain. Now you've got a great simple syrup to use that has more flavor than plain ole sugar.

Add the wine, prefereably already chilled.  Add chilled seltzer and serve.  Add the ice to each glass and pour.  Don't add ice to the whole mixture, it will be too diluted! It would be better to put the pitcher ON ice instead.

Hey, if you need other inspiration... here's some more ideas using the base recipe above:

• Add sliced peaches instead of citrus, use raspberry or peach vodka & seltzer.
• Fresh Watermelon chunks would be great too, maybe add Watermelon "Pucker" liqueur instead of Grand Marnier and regular vodka.
• Blackberries are in season right now, add Blackberry vodka, I think Stoli makes one.
• Red Wine, you say?  I think this recipe would be just as nice with RED WINE too!

Also, if you need more inspiration, here is another great Summer time party drink:

Hop, Skip and Jump Naked