Lemonade Summer Wine Cooler

"The inspiration for this recipe came from the late Jenny Fitch, who, with her husband, R.B., set out to create a perfect retreat near Chapel Hill, North Carolina -The Fearington House. This is a reworked version of their lemon balm cooler."

2 cups water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
3 regular-size blackberry- or black currant-flavored tea bags
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 1/2 lemons)
One 750-millileter bottle white wine

Fresh blackberries for garnish (optional)

Combine the water, sugar, and zest in a medium-size saucepan and bring to a gentle boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the tea bags, remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags without squeezing them, strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer, and let cool.

Combine the blackberry tea, lemon juice, and wine in a 1 1/2-quart container.

Chill until very cold. Serve in punch cups or champagne glasses, garnished with blackberries if desired.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts
Source: Lemonade: 50 Cool Recipes for Classic, Flavored, and Hard Lemonades and Sprinklers by Fred Thompson