3 Stone Fruit Sangrias to Sip this Weekend

[Photographs: Autumn Giles]

Sangria doesn't have to be about bad red wine with sad chunks of apple swimming around in it. These three sangria recipes take advantage of the amazing stone fruits—peaches! plums!—that are at their peak right now, resulting in flavorful, not-too-sweet takes on the classic wine-based pitcher drink. These flexible recipes can be made ahead in large batches, making them ideal for parties.

Cherry Sangria

Unlike some fruit typically used for sangria, cherries truly benefit from a soak in alcohol. Something really magical happens to the taste and texture of cherries when they are allowed to sit in booze, so they're at the center of this sangria. A red wine base gets a boost of cherry flavor from Cherry Heering, a rich cask-aged cherry liqueur. A little citrus and seltzer keep the combination refreshing.

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Plum Sangria

This rosey-hued sangria is the most tart of the three recipes we're sharing today. It captures the flavors of deep red Methley plums by roasting the fruit with star anise pods until the plums begin to release their fragrant juices. Adding just a bit of Maraschino liqueur to the plums contributes a delicately nutty note. Plums love ginger, so we top this rosé-based sangria with a bit of spicy ginger beer.

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White Peach Sangria

This herbaceous mixture is a cocktail drinker's sangria. Macerating white peaches in sugar before adding them to the sangria helps draw out their juices and their flavor. Rosemary and gin add a layer of herbal complexity against the sweetness of the peaches. Dry white wine and seltzer bring everything together—all you need is a pitcher and a sunny afternoon for drinking.

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About the Author: Autumn Giles is a writer in Queens, NY. You can see her work on Autumn Makes & Does, listen to her talk on the Alphabet Soup Podcast, and talk at her on Twitter.

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