Beber sangría para la buena salud: La Sangria Robada Rosé ("Drink sangria for good health: STOLEN Rosé Sangria")

STOLEN Rum is onto something simply beautiful – an exceptional summer tipple that will see you through until spring.

While the sun refuses to shine, La Sangria Robada Rosé (STOLEN Rosé Sangria) is a salute to hazy summer days: a combination of STOLEN white rum, Rochfort Rees 2011 Marlborough Rosé, black peppercorns, fresh nectarine, sweet basil leaves, cinnamon sticks and Agave (“uh-gah-vay”) nectar.

At its essence, sangria (Spanish ‘blood’) is wine, spirit, sweetener and fruit. The traditionally blood-red beverage is celebrated in Spain and around the world; the new STOLEN version gives the classic drink a fresh flavour profile while still paying homage to its Spanish roots.

The lovely Rochfort Rees Rosé lends the sangria its amazing blush colour and sweet flavours of strawberry and nectarine. Peppercorns enhance the spice in the STOLEN rum which partners the fresh, tart strawberry flavours in the Rosé.

Finely sliced nectarine adds dry, floral notes; sweet basil plays with the herbaceous notes in the wine while complementing the earthiness of the rum; and the cinnamon quills give warmth and depth of flavour.

Agave nectar is a natural sweetener derived from the blue agave plant used to make tequila. The nectar brings out the syrupy sweetness of the Rosé. It is available in the sweeteners section of any good supermarket or at your local health food store.

La Sangria Robada Rosé recipe was developed by Calem Chadwick, Minister Plenipotentiary of STOLEN Rum

STOLEN White Rum is available at all good liquor retailers nationwide for RRP$45 (700ml). www.stolenrum.com

Rochfort Rees 2011 Rosé, RRP$19.95 (750ml). www.blackmarket.co.nz

La Sangria Robada Rosé Recipe

Will make approximately 1 litre (divide measurements by 5 for an individual serve)

Ingredients:

5-6 whole black pepper corns

1 whole nectarine - finely sliced

3 cinnamon quills

6 basil leaves

40mls Agave nectar (be exact – too much will be too sweet)

150mls STOLEN White Rum

750mls Rochfort Rees Rosé (1 bottle)

Method:

Combine STOLEN White Rum and agave nectar in a glass jar or large vessel and stir to dissolve. Add all other ingredients except the Rosé and stir again. Add Rosé and place covered in fridge for one hour. When serving add large chunks of ice.

Notes:

This Sangria will benefit from being allowed to rest so if possible prepare an hour in advance to allow flavours to blend. It also benefits from ice - it is designed to be a strong sipping drink at first, and then as the ice melts and dilutes the drink in your glass, the drink mellows and evolves allowing the softer flavours to come through.

A bit about STOLEN Rum

The most sought after of spirits, Caribbean rum was once STOLEN and run by rogues and racketeers, illicitly sipped in the speakeasies of the American prohibition. Bewitched by the last drops of a rum that had been run into New York City in the 1920s, New Zealand rum fanatics Jamie Duff and Roger Holmes resolved to run rum to a new generation of wrongdoers. Theirs would be a premium rum blended for a contemporary palate, but one true to the great rums of New York speakeasies and the spirit of the runners who stole and ran them. STOLEN Rum is a New World interpretation of that rare and beguiling taste, liberated from the Caribbean by the rum-runners of Downtown Auckland, New Zealand.

Stolen Rum produces two rum variants – white and gold. Both options have won their fair share of accolades – a top achievement for a young brand. White Rum; won Gold at 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition; Silver (Best in Class) International Win and Spirit Contest, London (Aug 2010). Gold Rum; won Double Gold at 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competition; 4 Star review in influential UK magazine ‘CLASS’.