Memorial Day has passed and summer is here! How do you like to spend your summers? By the pool or lake? On the beach with a great summer read? Or perhaps traveling to other parts of the world? Summer is a great time for lots of fun! Summer can certainly get pretty hot, at least in Texas. I have some suggestions to help you beat the summer heat that are fun too!

Everything, in my opinion, is better with bubbles, even summer! So I have three fun sparkling wines from Barefoot wines to make your summer cool and fun. Additionally, along with these fun sparklers I have a couple of sparkling wine cocktail recipes to kick your summer up a notch!

Most wine lovers are familiar with Barefoot wines. They are widely distributed and available at wallet friendly price points. Barefoot believes wine is “all about having fun and staying quirky.” And that my focus for you, three sparkling wines that are fun for summer with a couple of fun cocktail recipes to stay quirky!

We think wine should be all-inclusive.

At Barefoot, we believe no one should be judged by the color of their favorite grape. In fact, we pride ourselves on making wines free from the tyranny of all wine snobbery. Everyone has the right to get Barefoot and have a great time – however they choose!

 By staying true to our Barefoot values, we SOLE-mnly swear to keep wine more fun and less serious. Because after all, who doesn’t think wine drinking is way more fun than wine tasting?

Barefoot Moscato Spumante: glistening gold in the glass with persistent bubbles; on the nose a sweet basket of fresh picked citrus and stone fruit, the palate is sweet with lots of citrus notes but balanced with acidity, it has a mousse like mouth feel and a long, lemon/lime finish; perfect to pair with spicy foods, fresh fruit and fruit desserts this summer.

Barefoot Pinot Grigio Sparkling Wine: almost translucent in the glass with delicate citrus and stone fruit aromas; on the palate it is light and refreshing with a slight sweetness balanced acidy; an easy drinking wine that can be enjoyed alone or in a perfect summer cocktail.

Barefoot Citrus Fusion Sparkling Wine: this wine is a golden yellow with orange hues in the glass; aromas of fresh picked summer citrus such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit and lime zest envelope the nose; on the palate it is slightly sweet but in a fun citrusy sort of way, it has a nice round acidity with a  mousse like mouth feel and a long, citrus finish; it is citrus from beginning to end; this was my favorite of the three for sipping by itself and I loved it in a sparkling cocktail!

Here are a couple of easy recipes to turn your Barefoot sparkling wines into a quirky sparkling cocktail. Both recipes are for an entire 750ml bottle; however, I adapted them for my purposes to make only one glass. It was easy and delicious! You will love these recipes all summer long!

Sparkling Peach Sangria

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 3 cups sliced peaches*
• 2 cups raspberries*
• 1 cup simple syrup**
• 1 cup peach schnapps ( I did not have this so I did not use it, still delicious)
• 1 bottle Barefoot Pinot Grigio Sparkling wine

Instructions

• add fruit to a large pitcher
• pour the wine, simple syrup and peach schnapps into the pitcher and stir
• allow to sit for at least 1 hour or over night in the fridge
• pour equal amounts of the wine mixture and champagne into a glass when ready to server
• enjoy!

Notes

*Frozen if fruit is not in season
**Equal parts water and sugar heated in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved, then mixture is cooled

Blackberry Thyme Champagne Cocktail Serves 4

• FOR THE BLACKBERRY SYRUP
• 1/3 cup blackberries, plus 8 more for garnish
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• FOR THE COCKTAIL
• 1 Barefoot Citrus Fusion Sparkling Wine
• FOR THE GARNISH
• 4 sprigs of thyme

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, bring the blackberried, water and sugar to a boil. Turn to low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Strain blackberries and let syrup cool.
2. Add 2 tbsp. of syrup to the bottom of each glass. Top with champagne and add in a sprig of thyme and 2 blackberries!

Grab a few bottles of Barefoot Wines sparkling wines for fun summertime sippin and to create sparkling cocktails…great ways to beat the summer heat in style!

My Song Selection: These recipes are guaranteed to help you beat the summer heat in a way that is fun and easy!

Get your own Barefoot sparkling wines and let me know what song you pair with them. Cheers!