Autumn Apple Rosé Sangria

I’m gonna tell you right now, you need to make this for your Thanksgiving gathering next week. I mean, I know the food (and the pies) are the real star of the show on Turkey Day, but if you show up with a pitcher of this sangria, you might just outshine your Great Aunt Mildred’s sweet potato casserole. It’s *that* good.

I’m very fortunate to be from a family that generally has a good time when we get together (of course, we have our family drama, too), but if you aren’t as fortunate, and happen to be heading to a family dinner next week where someone will give you a hard time for who you voted for, what you wear, or what life choices you make—then, might I suggest dulling the pain with some spiced, appletastic sangria? Adding alcohol always makes things better, right? #sarcasm

This sangria is the epitome of a crowd-pleasing drink. It is sweet enough to mask the flavor of booze (read: it sneaks up on you), but not so sweet it feels like you’re drinking a milkshake (read: makes you sick).

I know when you think of fall and winter holidays, you think of warm beverages, but with the oven working overtime and a million people in the kitchen, I am always SO WARM at Thanksgiving. This cold, bubbly drink is per. fect. It feels festive without making me sweat through the holiday outfit I carefully picked out.

Instead of the typical red or white wine base for sangria, this recipe uses rosé wine for a few reasons. First up, it’s pink. And I mean, c’mon, how cute is that? It looks über beautiful in the pitcher. Secondly, rosé does a really good job of having a nice bit of wine-y flavor without being so strong that it overpowers the other mix-ins in the recipe. And thirdly, well, to be honest, red wine gives me wicked heartburn but rosé doesn’t. #tmi #thisis33

Because of all the mix-ins, you don’t have to get a top notch bottle of wine for this recipe—the flavors of the fruit and spices will cover up a lot of wine sins. I used a rosé from a local winery that runs about $10 a bottle. Honestly, you could get by with something even cheaper if you’re serving it to a crowd on Turkey Day. I actually think I might just buy a box of rosé when I make it next week for our gathering of 20+.

This rosé sangria gets the best flavor when it sits overnight, but if you’re like me and travel to your Thanksgiving destination the day of, you probably want to avoid driving down the interstate with a pitcher of booze on your lap (please, don’t get arrested because of me). You can make this just a few hours ahead of time, and it’ll still taste great.

Although, check your state laws on the whole open container thing. In Indiana, you can have an open container of alcohol in the trunk of your car, so in theory, we could make this recipe, put it into some canning jars, and stash it in the trunk. If we had a trunk. We don’t. Darn you, SUVs. Enjoy!