Summer… Sunsets… Wine… Sangria… That about sums up what happened in my brain when I saw this pin from Lisa’s blog Wine and Glue.

I love wine, and I love Sangria. Sangria seems to be a wonderful opportunity for wine to go on a fun and fruity vacation from it’s serious side. Summer seems like the perfect opportunity for me to help wine to accomplish such a vacation. It all seems to go together so well.

So this was a Pintesting test that was to bring on Summer (and help me celebrate Mother’s Day). Here are the Ingredients. The only “work” involved was washing and prepping the fruit. I needed some special tools for this.

I washed the strawberries and hulled them using a special tool that Lisa mentioned in the post – a straw. I didn’t have any paper drinking straws, so I used the permanent plastic one for my Starbucks Venti cold cup.

Insert into the bottom of the strawberry

Pop off the top

You can see that there is still a little bit that needs trimming, but overall this does a great job.

Once hulled and trimmed, the strawberries need to be sliced. Lisa recommended another special tool – an egg slicer, which I happened to have on hand.

Just drop in the strawberry, close the lid,

And you’re done!

Slice the oranges, mix the beverages and fruit in a pretty pitcher, and wait overnight.

I made this the day before Mother’s Day so that I could enjoy it on my day. If you saw my last post, Chicken Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden Copycat), then you’ll remember the full dinner picture that included the glass of Sunset Sangria. If not, go there next. Your family, friends, and tummy will thank you. Salude!

Here are the Pintesting Results.

Overall Results: 5 Pins

Accuracy: This was a fruity yet balanced sangria. The rum and orange liquor give it zip, the soda gives it fizz, and the moscato and fruit keep it sweet. I liked all the tips that Lisa gave for the strawberries. The nice even strawberry slices made for a lovely presentation. I didn’t drink the whole pitcher (I was the only one drinking), and the strawberries bled their color over the second night turning the Sangria a beautiful rose color that gave it a stronger sunset appearance. 5 Pins

Difficulty: If you don’t have a straw or egg slicer, you will have to hull and slice the strawberries by hand. Not difficult but a little time consuming. The hard part is waiting overnight for the flavors to meld happily together. 4 Pins

Time: The prep work took me between 15-20 minutes, just like Lisa said. Because you need to let this set overnight I’m giving this 3 Pins.

Cost: The moscato was on sale for less than $6, the orange liquor was $2 for the little bottle,the soda was $1 on sale, the rum was a gift that I had hiding in the back of the wine cooler ($0), the strawberries are in season and were $2 for the container, and the oranges were about $4 for a total cost of $15 for the pitcher. That’s $3-$4 per serving – 5 Pins

Practicality: With summer starting, I can see this as a quick make ahead beverage for party planning. (If you have little ones, you could skip the alcohol and use white grape juice. Just don’t mix up the pitchers!) The next time I’m going to make two pitcher as Lisa suggests. 5 Pins