White Wine Sangria

Man…what a weekend!!! Now that Kieran and I finally have our stuff, we’ve been busy unpacking and setting up our apartment. Luckily, only a few dishes broke in the move, and it appears everything else arrived unscathed!

We still have a lot of unpacking to do, but we made major progress this weekend, so we celebrated by going on a hike on Sunday.

Admittedly, we were slooooow moving on Sunday morning. We meant to get up early and seize the day but our poor aching bodies weren’t having it. Around 1pm we finally got our lazy butts out of the house to enjoy the outdoors. We ended up driving a 1/2 hour away to a cute little town called Troutdale. We found a pub to fill our bellies before we took to the trails. Normally we eat breakfast, but we didn’t have enough eggs in the house, so this pub food was our first meal of the day (this is important later).

After lunch we drove to the Columbia River Gorge to tackle a trail known as Angel’s Rest. Before leaving the house, I researched this trail and thought it would be a good fit for us, since we felt sore from unpacking. The hike was less than 5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 200 feet….or so I THOUGHT it was 200 feet. Turns out I read the wrong number, the hike had an elevation gain of 1,400 feet……so I was off by….give or take….1,200 feet. #FML

Once Kieran and I hit the trails we were all smiles. With the stress of the moving company drama behind us, Kieran and I could fully enjoy ourselves as we soaked in the sunshine and gorgeous scenery.

While hiking Angel’s Rest, the majority of the trail winds up the hill, surrounded by tall trees, but every now and then you could see the gorge through a clearing in the trees that was breathtaking. This particular trail was the toughest hike Kieran and I embarked on yet. Not only was the elevation gain kicking our asses, but the terrain was rockier than expected to two former city slickers. I’m not use to hiking up mountains, let alone, climbing over large rocks while doing so!

The elevation gain make 1 mile feel like 5 miles. I had my camera with us, so we snapped pictures as an excuse to stop and catch our breath. Being hiking novices we didn’t realize, until it was too late, we made a HUGE hiking no-no….. we didn’t bring enough water with us! We each hiked with an 80z bottle of water #Amateurs.

About halfway up the trail, we completely ran out of water, and like two idiots, we kept hiking undeterred. It did not take long for us to burn off the calories from our single meal (lunch) and become dehydrated!!

Poor Kieran, felt the dehydration the worst, unfortunately he started feeling the symptoms 3 miles into our hike. He frequently had to sit down to prevent himself from passing out! It was scary because we still had 2 miles to go before we could get back to our car. Luckily, other hikers came to Kieran’s aid and provided him with a little more water. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it was certainly better than nothing, and it provided Kieran with enough strength to hike back down the trail.

As soon as we made it back to our car, we drove to the nearest gas station to purchase gatorade and LOADS of water. Kieran is lucky our hiking ignorance didn’t end more tragically! Words can’t describe how scared I felt not knowing what to do if Kieran collapsed.

So..novice hikers learn from our mistakes. Bring twice as much water as you think you’ll need! Kieran and I also decided each time we hike, we will leave extra water in the trunk of our car, for when we return. At least we’ll have water readily available in the car if our supply runs out during the hike. #lessonlearned

When we returned home from our hike, we ate dinner and drank more water. Then…it was wine time. Is it wise to drink wine after being dehydrated? Probably not, but between you and me, I didn’t care, I was on a mission to decompress from the day’s events. It was time to enjoy White Wine Sangria.

While editing the white wine sangria pictures, I quickly realized I should have kept some fruit IN the wine glasses while shooting! I don’t know what possessed me to strain the fruit but I wish I hadn’t. But…as Lady Olenna says in the Game of Thrones, “Once the cow’s been milked, there’s no squirting the milk back up her udder so here we are to see things through.”

In retrospect, I should have realize the wine looked like I poured a glass of Zinfandel or Rosé, but I promise you I used pinot grigio. The wine turned rose colored due to the raspberries and peaches. I can also promise you..this sangria is AMAZEBALLS! It turned out remarkably well.

When developing this recipe, I had two versions of the sangria I wanted to try, but I wasn’t sure which recipe to go with. Making up my minded deemed impossible, so I decided to make 2 versions of the white wine sangria, then choosing the best tasting recipe for the blog. I’m thrilled to say BOTH recipes were a hit so I wrote out the ingredient list for both!

I used less fruit and more sugar in one batch, and the opposite for the other. The extra fruit flavor wasn’t particularly noticeable, however, the sweetness was. Obviously the extra sugar made one batch sweeter, but it wasn’t overpowering, especially after topping off the wine glass with sparkling water. I saw some recipes add a cup of sugar to the sangria but I’m not a huge fan of overly sweet wines. I enjoy dryer white wines, so I normally stick to pinot grigio, which proved to be an excellent vehicle for the sangria.

This sangria is so crisp, light, and refreshing, it pairs perfectly with a hot summer day! I was hooked after my first sip and I can’t wait to make it again and again….this time….leaving in the fruit. Man….I can’t believe I didn’t think to photograph the fruit IN the wine glasses….GAH! Maybe I’m starting a new trend….a fruitless white wine sangria….right? Someone out there is bound to hate the fruit bumping into their nose as they sip from the glass….and this post goes out to those people.

Seriously though, the bubbles from the sparkling water combined with the slightly sweetened wine, fruit, and mint make for an refreshing, and addicting, summer cocktail.

Stay UN-thirsty my friends……bottoms up!