Spain, ~1960s.
| 4 oz · 120 ml | WHITE WINE | 12 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | BRANDY | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | ORANGE JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | LEMON JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP | |
| 1 oz · 30 ml | SODA WATER |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 6 oz mixed with ice, 0.68 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.9 oz of water |
| Topped | Poured after the melt, kept whole: soda water 1 oz, no alcohol |
| Served | 6 + 0.9 + 1 = 7.9 oz in the glass, 0.68 oz of it alcohol |
| Strength | 0.68 ÷ 7.9 = 8.6 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.68 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 16 g · about 111 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM WHITE WINE · the dominant grape acid
The dominant acid in grapes and the reason wine tastes sharp instead of flat. Forms crystals ("wine diamonds") when bottled wine gets cold; harmless, sometimes filtered out, sometimes left in as a mark of authenticity. Without acid, wine is sugar water.
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FROM ORANGE · citrus peel oil
An orange rind, squeezed, throws a spray that catches the light. That's d-limonene boiling off. It's roughly 95% of orange peel oil by mass, and the molecule that puts the "orange" in orange anything. Used industrially as a green solvent because the chemistry that dissolves citrus oils also dissolves greasy machinery. The expressed-peel garnish on a cocktail is delivering vaporized limonene to the rim of the glass.
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FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
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White wine, brandy, citrus, soda and stone fruit. It is the white-wine variant of Sangria: cleaner, more citrus-forward and with less tannin. It emerged in postwar Spain as a summer alternative.
Sangria Blanca (white sangria) is a post-war Spanish creation that emerged as bars and restaurants sought a lighter summer alternative to the heavier red sangria. The white-wine base (typically a crisp Spanish white like Albariño or Verdejo) reads as more elegant than the heavier red-wine punch. Modern Spanish restaurants increasingly serve sangria blanca as the 'default' sangria; in the US, red still dominates.
