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Ingredients

  • 1 bottle St. James Winery Cranberry Wine
  • 1 honeycrisp apple peeled & sliced into wedges
  • 1 pear, peeled and sliced into wedges
  • 1 orange, sliced thin
  • 1 liter cold sparkling water

Instructions

  1. Mix fruit and wine.
  2. Refrigerate 1 hour (or overnight) to allow flavors to combine.
  3. Add ginger ale and serve over ice.

Variations

Substitute St. James Winery Sparkling Blush or Sparkling Moscato for the the cold sparkling water!

Bartender Essentials

by Rich Trippler, mixologist, bartender at Bleu Restaurant and Wine Bar

For the best mixed drinks use fresh ingredients and, to the extent possible, make everything in house.

It’s easier than you think to make your own mixes and the improvement in taste as well as the satisfaction of not putting chemicals and high fructose corn syrup in your handcrafted drinks are both great benefits. What bartenders know that most people don’t is that it’s the mixers that make the drinks.

Cheap vodka in fresh squeezed orange juice is infinitely better than top shelf vodka in cheap juice.

It’s just that simple: use good mixers.

Kept cold these mixes will last almost forever in the fridge, too. Here’s how to do it:

Simple Syrup
2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Bring to a simmer on the stove and immediately remove from heat. Once chilled it will keep indefinitely in the fridge.

Sour Mix (the heart of Margaritas and Sidecars)
Mix equal parts simple syrup, pure lemon juice (Real Lemon from the store works perfectly), pure lime juice (Real Lime). Simply stir the ingredients together and keep chilled.

Grenadine (pomegranate syrup)
Bring 24 oz. Pom Wonderful brand pomegranate juice and 32 oz. sugar to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and chill.

Sweetened Lime Juice
1 part water, 1 part lime juice (Real Lime), 2 parts sugar. Bring to boil, immediately remove from heat and chill.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Mix 2 parts wine with 1 part sparkling water.
  • If desired, sweeten with simple syrup to taste.
  • Serve with a twist of lime.

Ingredients

  • 2 bottles St. James Winery Mango Wine
  • 1 cup pineapple juice
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 2 cups seltzer water
  • 1/2 cup pineapple, chunks
  • 1/2 cup mango, cubed
  • 1/2 cup orange slices

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large glass drink dispenser.
  2. Chill well, at least two hours to allow the flavors to blend.
  3. Serve in tall glasses with additional fruit to garnish