Sangria Recipes

Sangria is kind of like salsa, in that everyone has their own sangria recipe that they prefer. You can even make sangria with white wine, but this article will focus on sangria recipes using red wine.

What is Sangria?

Historically, sangria is a Spanish wine punch made with Bordeaux wine or another French red, fortified with brandy and spiked with fruit. Sangria is now popularly made with Rioja and other Spanish reds.

The fruity, boozy drink was popularized in the states at the 1964 World’s Fair, and since that time people have been adding their own unique spins to the concoction. Now you can find sangria recipes that include vodka, hot sauce and Irish whiskey, to name a few of the more interesting ingredients.

Traditional Sangria Recipe

The traditional claret sangria recipe from the 1800s can be found on a wonderful website that is a treasure trove of sangria recipes, Wine Intro. It involved a bottle of claret, a bottle of soda water, a lemon sliced thin, four tablespoons of powdered sugar, a pinch of grated nutmeg, a liqueur glass full of brandy and a wine glass full of sherry. It’s not exactly scientific, but I’m sure it’s delicious.

Basic Sangria Recipe

The basic sangria recipe is in fact very basic:

• one bottle red wine
• a shot (or two) of brandy, rum, pure grain alcohol or other liquor
• juice of one lime or lemon
• assorted chopped fruit

The fruit you choose will depend on your tastes, but the idea is to use things that will soak up the alcohol and give their own juices to the mixture. Strawberries, grapes, peaches, oranges, kiwi, mango and melon are all good choices.

Mix all the ingredients together and chill. If you can leave this overnight, that would be great, but even a few hours to chill the whole thing down and get the flavors mixed together will be helpful.

To serve, pour some of the sangria and put some pieces of fruit in the glass.

Modifying Sangria Recipes

There’s almost no wrong way to make sangria. Just about anything is welcome in your mix. A wonderful way to make your sangria recipe your own is to exchange the brandy or rum for your favorite fruit-flavored liqueur. Orange liqueur, cherry brandy, vanilla liqueur are all great choices.

Choose a liqueur that will go nicely with the fruit you want to use. Don’t be afraid to experiment; make your sangria recipe your own and enjoy the fruits of summer!

More Sangria Recipes

If you’re looking for still more inspiration for your own sangria recipe, check out some of the following sites, which are full of inspiration and ideas you can use.

• All Recipes
• Recipe Reader
• Lisa’s Sangria Recipes
• LovetoKnow RECIPES has a couple of claret punch recipes
• Sangria Secret Recipes