Skip to main content

Cheers to the New Year with Tinto de Verano



                                                              Happy 2024!

I can't believe a whole year has gone by already.  I think the older you get, the faster each year goes by.  But we are still in Spain and enjoying being with family so I'm not really thinking that much about time.  I'm just enjoying the moment.    

We've discovered a couple of favorite drinks during this trip to Spain.  One would have been perfect for New Year's Eve...if we could have stayed up that late.  (We're grandparents, remember?)  

When people think of Spain, they most likely think of the popular drink of sangria or the wine punch made with wine, fruit juice, sweeteners, and fresh-cut fruits with brandy or flavored liqueurs occasionally added to the recipe. They will even sell sangria in bottles ready to drink here in Spain.  During this visit we have learned about Tinto de Verano or ā€œred of summerā€ wine cocktail.  It seems to be everyoneā€™s favorite drink right now.  It looks like sangria but itā€™s even easier to prepare so thatā€™s a big plus. You can also buy it in cans, ready to drink and Nick keeps a supply at his house.
                            

                                       

Basically, it is red wine with equal parts lemon soda. In Spain, they use the popular lemon Fanta soda drink, in the U.S. you can use 7-up or Sprite.  

Use a fruity red Spanish wine such as garnacha or grenecha or pinot noir. You donā€™t want a fancy wine with too complex of flavors. Nick likes his with red vermouth.
 
                   

If you use wine instead of red vermouth, add 1 ounce of vermouth per glass for extra flavor.

If you donā€™t use lemon Fanta, you can use 1/2 lemonade and 1/2 club soda (to equal the amount of wine). Or you can use equal parts 7-up or Sprite, as the wine. šŸ·

Add lemon wedges to garnish the drink.

Our other favorite drink on this trip we sampled at a tour of Tio Pepe bodega that was established in 1844 in Jerez.  Lauren wanted to do a tour of a bodega before she left so we scheduled an English tour of this one that is about 20 minutes from Nickā€™s house. 


There are bodegas all over in this part of Spain that is called ā€œthe sherry triangleā€.  Itā€™s the only part of the world that makes sherry and bodegas are like wineries only they make sherry.  The one I loved was a sweet sparkling sherry wine served with ice called Croft Twist (the one on the right).


It is a take on a refreshing Andalusian drink (this part of Spain is called Andalusia) orā€™rebujitoā€™ of sherry and lemonade laden with ice and a garnish of mint.


Nick says itā€™s so popular here you can buy it in the grocery stores. Sure enough, there it was the next time we went grocery shopping. 


It would have been the perfect drink to toast at NewYear's but we were babysitting while Nick and Sachiyo went out to celebrate.  We were our usual party pooper selves on this New Yearā€™s Eve and couldnā€™t even stay up until midnight. 

          

If you were not a party pooper, I hope you had a very Happy New Year's and may 2024 bring all of us peace and joy in the coming year surrounded by those you love. 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of  meatloaf .  This must be meatloaf season.  It was surprisingly similar to the  Pioneer Woman's version  who was also recently on.   I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book,  Food Matters .  His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese!  I must be doing something wrong.  The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life.    If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health.  He tells his story in Food Matters and provides ...

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free.  But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one.  My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations  and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends.  We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop.  She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots.  We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.)   The views are always quite lovely, too.  Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception.  I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Waking Up in Vegas

and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas.   Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play".  That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play.  Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is.  And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas".    Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyoneā€™s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,ā€ she said. We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Br...