Recipe: Iced Rosé Tea-Gria

[Tran_Bronstein]

Foodies,

You may recall over on Wine Talk a long Rosé dedicated thread where I posted that I was too manly to drink Rosé but bought a half-dozen over this summer in order to get the beautiful clear glass Vino-loked bottles. While I managed to pawn the contents of two bottles off to friends during get-togethers, I still had the dilemma of what the heck to do with the other bottles.

Well I’m a big iced tea drinker and you may have read a previous post on Bourbon Iced Tea I did a long while back. That recipe basically called for mixing anywhere from 1/2 to 1 full cup of bourbon into 2 quarts of iced tea depending on how strong you like it.

Inspiration struck me today as I stared at the bottles of Rosé and my iced tea maker (aka a Cuisinart coffee maker dedicated to making strictly iced tea). Instead of using a small amount of bourbon, why not go the fruit-forward route and use a bottle of the Rosé instead? And since we’re there, why using wine, why not go all the way into Sangria territory and do a hybrid Iced Tea-Gria?

Despite the use of of a cheap Rosé, I actually had to be careful when doing this. Regular black tea is actually quite a strong flavor and really wouldn’t go well with the idea. So I chose to use green tea which is non-oxidized. In this case, I used some store-bought Lipton Green Tea with some natural mandarin orange flavor. No need to waste expensive green tea if this turned out to be a catastrophe. Fortunately, it wasn’t.

**ICED ROSE TEA-GRIA

TECHNIQUE SUMMARY:
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• Macerate a standard 750 ml bottle of Rosé wine with 1 cup of fruit
• Make 4 cups of DOUBLE-STRENGTH GREEN OR WHITE TEA using 5 cups of water and 8 standard tea bags (expect to lose 1 cup of water to the bags)
• Blend the steeped tea and the macerated wine together with 1/2 cup of sugar
• Add 1 cup soda water to finish for a light fizz
  
  WHY IT WORKS
  
  Green and white tea are not oxidized like black tea so there are no heavy tea tannins that can overwhelm the wine and the fruit**

First, macerate the Rosé wine with 1 cup of fruit. I happened to choose sliced lemons and limes but you can use any standard fruit you would normally use in Sangria. Citrus; peaches and nectarines, apples, grapes, berries, etc. Whatever you would normally use

While that’s macerating, heat 5 cups of water to just barely boiling and remove from heat. Add either 8 green or white tea bags or enough tea leaves to steep 8 cups. Expect to lose 1 cup of liquid as I did if you are using bags. You want to end up with 4 cups of double-strength iced tea at the end. Steep for a few minutes and then let cool. DO NOT USE BLACK TEA. It’s heavy on tannins. These go well with Bourbon but are too strong for wine.

When the tea has cooled, blend it with the macerated wine. I’ll leave it to you whether you want to throw the fruit in there. When I use citrus, I pull it out and juice the slices but I leave it in if I’m using other fruits. Just my personal preference.

Add in 1/2 cup of sugar. I would strongly recommend not putting in any more sugar until after you have tasted to your satisfaction. The reason for this is that the wine, while dry, does contain a bit of residual sugar and more importantly a standard 12% ABV alcohol which gives the perception of sweetness on the palate. Plus, it’s got additional sweetness from the macerated fruit. You may recall I used a full cup of sugar in the Bourbon Iced Tea recipe but there was a lot less fruit and alcohol in that recipe. I’d say start with 1/2 cup and then add more later if you like.

Once the sugar is dissolved, add one cup of club soda or sparkling water for the finishing touch that gives Sangria its traditional light fizziness.

There you have it. You can obviously play around with this recipe as you would any Sangria recipe. It’s also your option whether or not to serve the macerated fruit in the glass. I would have done that were I making this for guests. Since it’s just me, as I said above I squeezed out the citrus for every last drop of goodness directly into the mixture.

Below is a second pitcher I have finished, the glass I am drinking as I write this, and one of the inexpensive Vino-loked bottles of Rosé I used as my base. The wine flavor definitely comes through and complements the tea and citrus. Enjoy.