Peach White-Wine Sangria (and a party)

Just about a year ago, Mr Official Taster and I moved into our very own home. This weekend, we hosted a housewarming party. I'm really glad that we finally did. For one thing, it pushed us into making some repairs/updates that we've been thinking about and putting off for the last year. We got rid of the Ugliest Light Ever, installed a ceiling fan, got a new toilet, and a few other equally sexy jobs. God bless the 70s. I imagine they have been keeping electricians busy since at least the 80s.

Anywho, we decided on an open house format on Saturday afternoon/evening. We encouraged people to come whenever they could for however long they could. We served drinks and snacks and generally kept everything pretty casual. I'm happy with how many people were able to stop by, and it was fun to have so many friends in the same place at once.

We went with just a couple drink options, in order to help keep our sanity and our budget in check. We got a small keg of Fat Tire, and I made iced tea and sangria. Food consisted of snacks like chips, crackers, hummus, guacamole, brownies, and fruit. I laid down butcher paper on top of the sheet tablecloth so I could write on it. I wanted to give people as many answers as possible without them having to come find me, so I labeled some of the dishes. You can see a bit two photos below, but my labels were things like "salsa, gf & vegan" or "brownies, dairy free" or "brown rice & seed chips, gf & vegan."

It took me a bit of research to find a sangria recipe I really wanted to make, but then I remembered (the late, great) Gourmet cookbook. It has everything in it, and I know it to be trustworthy. My requirements were that it was a white wine sangria (less stain-y if spilled) and that it used fruit I could pick up at the farmers' market. Gourmet's Peach White-Wine Sangria both sounded amazing and fit my requirements. Again and again, Gourmet has come through with a fabulous recipe, and its streak continues.

Peach White-Wine Sangria
adapted, barely, from Gourmet Today

I was thrilled with how this sangria turned out, and our guests raved. The basil is unexpected and really makes this recipe stand out from the crowd. Since I can very rarely leave well enough alone, I changed the proportions a bit from the original to make it less sweet. I couldn't find peach nectar, so I used an equal amount of Orange Peach Mango Juice. Feel free to scale this up to fit your party needs! If you're feeling sassy (and you probably are), a bottle of bubbly is a welcome addition.

1 C loosely packed fresh basil leaves plus 8 to 10 sprigs
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
2 (11-ounce) cans peach nectar (see note)
2 (750-ml) bottles chilled dry white wine
1 large peach (peeled if desired), diced

Put basil leaves, sugar, and lemon juice into a small saucepan and bruise leaves by mashing with a wooden spoon. Add 1 can nectar and bring just to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes, then pour through a medium-mesh sieve into a heatproof pitcher, discarding basil leaves. Stir in wine, peach, remaining can nectar, and basil sprigs. Chill, covered, at least 1 hour and up to 24. Serve over ice. pro tip: want to be fancy and keep your drink from getting watered down? Make wine ice cubes! Plain wine doesn't freeze super well, so I filled my ice cube trays about half way with water, then poured in wine to fill them the rest of the way.