Aside from the weather, Spring and Summer seasons are also the perfect times to enjoy Rosé wine and Sangria, a red wine punch that's created in Spain. Normally, it's comprised of red wine, brandy, and fruit. However, it can be made in just about any style you like. While Spain is heralded as the creator of Sangria, countries all over the globe have adapted the recipe to make a fruit-filled wine beverage that's refreshing and easy to drink with a wide variety of foods. We have included two of our favorites that you can personalize with different fruits, juices, flavored brandies, lemonade, or even hot sauce. Enjoy!

Red Sangria

• 1 bottle of red wine (We suggest Cortijo Rioja or Pares Balta Rose)
• 1 lemon cut into wedges
• 1 orange cut into wedges
• 1 cored and sliced apple
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 shot of brandy (can be flavored)
• 2 cups ginger ale or club soda

Pour wine in a pitcher and squeeze juice from lemon and orange into wine. Toss in fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible), and add sugar and brandy. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale or club soda and apples just before serving.

Sparkling White Sangria

• 4 cups dry or semi-dry white wine (Try Infinitus or Nessa Albarino)
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. extra-fine granulated sugar
• 2 cups chilled sparkling water
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups sliced apples, peaches,

In a pitcher, stir together white wine, orange juice, orange liqueur, lemon juice, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Cover and refrigerate mixture until ready to serve. Just before serving, add chilled sparkling water and sliced fruits; stir gently. For a little extra sparkle add some Spanish sparkling wine called Cava! Pour sangria over ice, and add fruit to each serving.

2006 Domaine de Fenouillet Cotes du Ventoux Rosé, France. Domaine de Fenouillet is situated in the village of Beaumes de Venise in the heart of the finest vineyard sites in the southern Cotes du Rhone. Cotes du Ventoux specifically where this wine is from, is very hot in the summer but cold in the winter. This produces a light, fresh, classic French rosé with a fruit bomb style. Cranberry, cherry, melon and a touch of orange zest highlight this selection that is great with many foods. The fruit flavors are intense up front with a lovely, dry finish. ($13.99)

2005 Lane Tanner Pinot Noir, California. Those in our Level 2 wine club recently were able to experience this delightful and well structured Pinot. With only 556 cases produced, this is a special wine that will show well for 5 years to come. On the palate, it has crunchy red fruit with a broad midpalate, hints of violets, spice undertones and a berry-etched finish. The wine spent about 11 months in new French oak barrels, which adds some oak flavors but not overpowering of the fruit. The wine is unfined and gently filtered for clarity, and because of this will naturally show sediment over time. This wine is very low in free sulfites. ($29.99)

2005 DiLupo Chianti, Italy. This is a great little wine that we think overdelivers for its small price. A medium-to-full bodied selection, it offers you smooth red and black fruit flavors with a small touch of minerality that gives a dry, yet silky finish. This Chianti is lovely on its own or the perfect partner for pizza, bugers on the grill, or pastas with red sauce. As we say this is a great pizza, pasta, burger wine. This we will taste, along with another Italian selection, during Thursday's Main Street Stroll. ($9.99)

2005 Sonoma Loeb Private Reserve Chardonnay, California. This is a Chardonnay with a story. John L. Loeb Jr, the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark from 1981 to 1983, has been growing grapes in the Russian River bend and Alexander Valley of Sonoma County, California, since 1973 and has been selling them to the best wineries in Sonoma. He devotes a small portion of his best Chardonnay to the production of Sonoma-Loeb. This Private Reserve Chardonnay is 100% barrel fermented in the finest French oak barrels. The wine remains in contact with the lees (dead yeast cells), adding flavor, complexity and richness to the wine, and then it goes through a secondary, nonalcoholic fermentation-known as malolactic fermentation-which gives the wine a creamy, silky, buttery mouth feel. This wine shows a rich, opulent style with loads of flavor built around a core of ripe earthy fig, pear, apricot and melon that then finishes with a gush of fruit and light hazelnut-scented oak. Only a few cases were made available to us, and the allotment is quickly depleting. ($32.99)

Thursday, May 10 (5pm to 8 pm) Main Street Stroll Italian Tasting

Friday, May 11 ( 5pm to 8 pm) Great Selections for the Grill

• 2004 Moon Mountain Sauvignon Blanc, California. This vineyard sits on the west side of Sonoma Valley at the foot of Sonoma Mountain. Fermented in French barrels in caves, this wine was aged for four months, undergoing a malolactic fermentation to soften the acidity and add complexity. The aromas of the finished wine are classically Sauvignon Blanc, with hints of papaya, citrus and honeydew. The flavors are crisp and refreshing and complement a wide range of grilled, herbed-rubbed and spiced dishes. ($12.99)

• 2003 Vina Pomal Crianza Rioja, Spain.Vina Pomal's Crianza, made from Tempranillo, is a wine that captivates you with its intensive, magenta-red color with much fruit, density and structure. The nose is vibrant and clean with persistent aromas of liquorice, mulberries and raspberries, which are inter-layered with touches of toasty vanilla and coconut originating from oak barrels. In the mouth the wine is balanced with plenty of body and viscosity and a velvety, round mouthfeel. The finish is notably long and flavorsome. ($12.99)

• 2004 Archtype Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia. From Barossa Valley, Australia's premier appellation, this label is a relatively new arrival on the wine scene. Layers of opulent red berry flavors, with a touch of mocha and smoked meat, this wine has all the characteristics of classic Shiraz from the Barossa Valley. Minimal vineyard irrigation, low yielding vines, and a variety of vine ages (5 years to more than 50 years) give this Shiraz its layers and fruit intensity, but with a graceful balance. This is a full-bodied selection that exhibits a silky smooth mouth feel and explodes with red and black berry fruit aromas and flavors. From some time in oak barrels, you also will detect a sweet vanilla spice on the finish, which seems to last for quite some time. ($15.49)

• 2003 Terrabianca Campaccio, Tuscany. This is our special selection for grilled foods and the evening's tasting. The very first documents mentioning the presence of Terrabianca, dated 1085, describe it as being a country estate as, in fact, its name clearly implies. Located in the heart of Tuscany's Chianti Classico, today Terrabianca has become one of the world's best loved Tuscan wines. It has an aromatic bouquet of dark berry fruit, with a hint of cocoa and toasted almond, and it's beautiful mouthfeel shares the same dark berry flavors with a perfectly balanced body, concentration and freshness. ($42.49)

Saturday, May 12 (3 pm to 7 pm) Spring and Summer Favorites

• 2005 Fruitiere de la Muscadet, France.This is a lovely new white wine that we highlighted last week and that is the ever-so-perfect selection for shellfish. Its color is a pale green, golden color that radiates beauty. The palate is lively with acidity and minerality, and then you get the crisp apple and peach fruit, and creamy, smooth but nice, dry finish. It's quite beautiful (and so is the label) with just a touch of effervescence. ($11.99)

• 2006 Valdelainos Verdejo,Rueda, Spain. Great care is taken with the production of this wine. All grapes are hand harvested before undergoing a slow alcoholic fermentation. Afterwards, the wine is aged in stainless steel vats with its lees, the dead yeast cells, for 2 months prior to bottling. Because there is no oak fermentation or aging, the wine exudes a crisp, clean freshness. However because the wine is on its lees, it takes on a slight creaminess with reduced acidity, making for a smooth mouth feel. Made of 96% Verdejo and 4% Viura, both varietals indigenous to Spain, its slightly reminiscent of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - crisp, melony, herbal revealing refreshing floral and green apple and pear fruit notes. ($13.99)

• 2005 Cartlidge & Browne Pinot Noir. A brilliant medium to full color, this California Pinot Noir shows buoyant aromas of fresh cherry and strawberry with plenty of wonderful 'beet root'' character, typical of Pinot Noir. Its fruit is complimented by delicate hints of licorice, mocha spice, and creamy vanilla from its oak aging. Though soft and fat on the palate, the wine is packed with flavor through to a lush and satisfying finish. This is a versatile wine -- great with rich fish such as salmon. It's equally delicious with light pastas, grilled poultry, and simple pork preparations. ($12.99)

email: jessica@thesavorygrape.com

phone: 401.886.9463

web: http://www.thesavorygrape.com