Coffee + A.M. = Function.
Wine + P.M. = Relaxation.
Now THAT ^ is my kind of math.
Let’s face it, stereotypically we ladies love our wine. Maybe it makes us feel fancy? Maybe we just want that delightful buzz? To each their own (I'm not judgin').
That being said, I have a confession to make: I’m halfway through my 30’s and I’ve never been drunk. Yep, really. (Hence why I don't judge) As far back as I can remember, I’ve always drank wine (Italian household, shocker). It was always offered to us as kids at the dinner table so I never thought it was a big deal, just normal to have at family dinners. My grandpa used to mix in a little orange soda or 7up with red wine so it was extra special, and I continue to make this special drink today.
Wine by itself is lovely, but when you mix things into it? You can potentially unleash some magic in that bottle (and should a genie come out, I refuse to be held liable).
Over the years I've been making herbal infusions, it dawned on me one day…put the herbs in the wine! How had I not done this already?! So I spent less time being hard on myself for not thinking of it sooner and more time running to my garden to figure out what the heck I could shove into that wine bottle!
As I wandered around the garden, I nibbled and smelled all of my herbs until I found a simple blend:
Lemon Verbena & Lavender (photo above)
If you have never smelled lemon verbena, you are missing out! Oh man is it lemony fantasticalness! (that’s a word right? Sure...) This yielded a relaxing, and magical, combo of floral and citrus. All I had on hand was a bottle of Riesling so I went for it! The great thing about this is: there’s no real science to it. Follow your intuition and just put the herbs in the wine!
Tip: If you’re making wine from scratch, you could chop up the herbs to really unleash all of their amazing and beneficial properties.
(Unlike me, who had an "oooo so prettyyyy" girl moment and enjoyed how beautiful the sprigs looked in the bottle.)
Normally, a medicinal herbal infusion would take about 4-6 weeks for maximum benefits. For wine, we just want to get some nice flavor in there, and reap some of the naturally occurring herbal benefits.
I left this mixture you see in the picture for about 1 week in my bar cabinet. You could put it in the fridge if you desire.
I then strained out the contents and was able to pull the sprigs out of the bottle and pour the wine back in again.
Additional helpful tip: Make sure you always label any concoction you make. It’s nice to know what’s what in the cabinet...that is, if it lasts long enough ;)
Happy mixing!
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