This is truly one of my favorite recipes when we have guests. It’s much more festive than just serving chilled white wine because of all the beautiful colors of the fruit in the wine glass. I assemble this in the morning of the party, chill in the refrigerator (especially if I am using simple syrup), and add the fruit just before serving. It’s always a huge hit and guests also love nibbling on the fruit when they are done with the wine. You may also make your own variation by adding different fruits such as strawberries, pears or apples. Cheers!

Ingredients:

1 small honeydew melon

1 pound watermelon

1 small cantaloupe

1 bottle of dry white table wine

1 bottle of sweet Riesling wine

1 bottle of Moscato d'Asti wine

OR if you don’t have Riesling or Moscato, you may use dry white table wine in place of both and add simple sugar syrup to taste

12 red grape, sliced in half

Directions:

Using a melon baller, scoop the melons into balls. Place the melon balls onto a baking pan, spreading them so that they don't touch one another. Freeze until solid, 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Freeze grape halves overnight.

Mix the wines in a punch bowl or large glass pitcher. Add the grape halves and frozen melon balls, and serve.

Note: Simple sugar syrup is 1 part water boiled with 1 part sugar. Mix 2 cups water with 2 cups sugar and boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add cooled syrup slowly to the wine, tasting frequently as to not add too much syrup, until you reach the desired sweetness.