Ahhh! Mango-Cucumber Wine Cooler

We were enjoying the last of our Shrimp and Leek Linguine in White Wine Sauce the other night when I realized we still had quite a bit of local Missouri Les Bourgeois vidal blanc left. It was still insanely hot outside; the day before was our hottest day yet, a blazing 108 degrees! Neil and I were both getting ready to leave town, and for me, getting ready for BlogHer just made the heat feel that much worse. A colorful chilled drink was definitely in order, they fix everything right? {Via Bon Appétit}

Ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 750-ml bottle Sauvignon Blanc (we used the fabulous Les Bourgeois Vidal Blanc)
1 hothouse cucumber, peeled, cut into 1/4″ rounds
1 mango, pitted, peeled, finely diced
12 sprigs fresh mint, divided
1 cup ginger ale

Directions:

1. Stir sugar and 1 ½ tablespoons hot water in a large pitcher until dissolved.
2. Add wine, cucumber, and mango. Remove leaves from 6 sprigs of mint; stir into pitcher. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours.
3. Stir ginger ale into pitcher. Fill 6 large wineglasses with ice. Divide wine cooler among glasses. Garnish with remaining 6 mint sprigs.

Lightly sweet and refreshing and just what we needed to relax a bit. Because I don’t drink much, I’m usually quick to talk myself out of overly complicated beverage recipes. This however was easy to put together on short notice, and I loved it the longer we let it sit covered in the fridge.

Feeling bold, we tried taking them outside to enjoy on our deck, but the bugs and heat drove us back inside pretty quickly. Isn’t it nuts that it can be too hot to BBQ or enjoy your deck in summer? Now that the temperatures are finally starting to cool down, hopefully we can make up for it. It would be a shame to end the first summer in our new house having barbecued only once.