If you know me, you know I love Sangrias! If Sangrias are on the menu at a restaurant, I typically always order it. Thanksgiving and Christmas, I usually always make a sangria. I love the sweetness, the alcohol, and the fruit!
So to be pregnant during the holiday seasons is rough! Everyone I know will be enjoying their wine and alcoholic beverages, and I’ll be over here in the corner with my…
Sangria!
Yup! I will be making a virgin Sangria 🙂
When I google virgin Sangria, all that pops up are grape fruit juice and ginger ale or club soda or other juices. I want to feel like I’m partaking in some actual wine, just without the alcohol. Well, I recently discovered FRE Wine, which is a non-alcoholic wine! I’m so happy I found this! It’s actually not too bad! It doesn’t taste like the actual wine, but it’s actually pretty good. It tastes like non-sweetened grape juice (but doesn’t taste like diet grape juice, which I think is gross and artificial).
What is FRE Wine and how is it made?
FRE wine and probably other non-alcoholic wine companies (comment if you know some other companies), is made by first making alcoholic wine, which is made by fermenting grapes. The fermentation converts sugar into alcohol. With Fre wine, they gently remove the alcohol by using a spinning cone column, which preserves the characteristics and taste of wine, but removes the alcohol. It is hard to remove all 100% of the alcohol, but once the process is finished, there’s less than 0.5% alcohol, which is the same as orange juice left out overnight!
Grape juice, however, is the unfermented juice of grapes, that’s why it’s much sweeter, because it’s not undergoing that fermentation process and converting the sugar to alcohol.
What is the spinning cone process to remove the alcohol?
I’m kind of geeking out about this, it’s actually pretty fascinating! The spinning cone process, uses centrifugal force and nitrogen gas to separate the wine’s flavors and fragrances during the dealcoholizing process. Fre’s website has a pretty cool video on the process.
So the grapes are picked in California, then crushed, fermented, pressed and aged (just like traditional wine is). Once that’s all complete and the wine is ready, Fre then starts the dealcoholization process with the spinning cone. As the wine is being poured into the cone, the cone starts to rotate creating a centrifugal force. Nitrogen gas (the amount is nothing harmful), is then used to remove the aromas and flavors of the wine, while protecting it from oxidation.
The liquid is then passed through the spinning column again at a higher temperature, which removes the alcohol. Once the liquid’s alcohol is gone, it’s combined with the natural aromas and flavors and ta-da – you’ve got non-alcoholic wine.
My Virgin Sangria
I tried three different variations and the one I went with is below 🙂
I used the Fre Chardonnay white wine and trialed regular 100% white grape juice and club soda. Then I tried the wine with 1 tsp black strap molasses and club soda as I wanted to see if I could add some nutrition and natural sweetness to the sangria but nope, tasted like medicine. (The reason why I tried black strap molasses, is because it’s actually a great source of plant based iron! and as pregnant women we need that iron…but it did not taste good!). My final experiment and the one I went for was the wine with Sparkling white grape juice as it was perfectly sweet and already had the carbonation.
Last step is load it with fruit! So this is actually a healthy drink =P plus it doesn’t make you feel left out!
Let me know how you like it if you make it. I will admit, it’s not the real stuff, but it’s a close second. I typically would add Brandy to my alcohol but not in this case. It’s okay my fellow prego mammas, our baby will be here before we know it. If you’re breastfeeding, do know that it’s okay to safely drink alcohol when breastfeeding! The amount of alcohol that enters your breastmilk is almost negligible. If you are concerned, I’d recommend nursing your baby, then have your drink of alcohol, then by the time your baby is hungry, it should be well out of your system.
Virgin Sangria
Non-alcoholic sangria
Ingredients
- 1 bottle white non-alcoholic wine
- 1 bottle Sparkling white grape juice
- 1 red apple
- 1 green apple
- 1/2 orange
- 1/2 cup cranberries
- 1/4 lemon okay to omit
Instructions
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Cut your apples in small cubes and your orange in small slices
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Mix the bottle of non-alcoholic wine and sparkling white grape juice. (It’s about half and half. Feel free to decrease the amount of sparkling grape juice if you want it less sweet or increase it if you want it sweeter).
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Add the cut up fruit and cranberries and put in the refrigerator to chill
Recipe Notes
If you don’t have sparkling white grape juice you could do 100% white grape juice and carbonated water
