Put fruit in your wine

Don't think, just do it.

July 18, 2024

This piece was originally written for Glug magazine last summer. I have four monthly columns in Glug, and you can sign up for their wine club here.

I’m telling you this for your own good—put fruit in your wine.

A friend of mine from northern Italy met me in the park one day and while I had a can of something sparkling in my bag, she had brought a jam jar filled with Gavi and sliced peaches. The elegance! The rusticity! I was in awe of her resourcefulness, and of her attention to the simple, finer things in life. I had felt the day required bubbles for celebration. Her version of celebration was a true indication of the season—ripe stone fruits, cold white wine. Even the jam jar, now I come to overthink it, seems a sly remark against the preserves and penury of winter. Jam gone, the jar was now a receptacle for summer sunshine.

So, we’ve established that Gavi and peaches are an excellent pairing. There are many more wines to choose from, and fruits to pick.

Slice lemons and freeze them. Add the frozen slices, like circles of stained glass, into glasses of white rioja. Do the same, but with lime, in a Gruner Veltliner. Select the tiniest, sweetest strawberries and drop them into creamy Blanc de Noir champagne, or into the leesy, vanilla-rich folds of an oaked Chardonnay. Muscadet likes pears and green apple slices. Pale salmon-pink rosés love raspberries, and deep, sugary rosés enjoy cherries or frozen blackberries. Blueberries, even.

All of these combinations are suitable for jam jar park walks, but if you’re in the garden, I’d be tempted to bring out the big jug and stir up a sangria. The beauty of a sangria in your own home—you can do whatever you like. Taste the wine. What does it want? What do you want? Add sliced fruits, juice (if you like—I always like orange juice in my sangria), sprigs of aromatic herbs, ice, and a dash of liquor. Smile.

This week I’ve been suffering from a lingering chest infection, so my cooking hasn’t exactly been on-point. However I did make a riff of this pork chops and creamy mustard gnocchi dish on Tuesday—the weather has been wintery, so why not eat like it too?

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