Sangria is an alcoholic punch that originates in Spain and Portugal. It was introduced to America in the colonial era but lost popularity by the early twentieth century. It was reintroduced to the U.S. by Hispanic Americans opening Spanish restaurants in the late 1940s and then became increasingly popular in New York in 1964 due to the World’s Fair.
It is traditionally an iced drink with a base of red wine, usually Spanish Rioja, mixed with chopped fresh fruits such as apples, pears, oranges, peaches and berries. It is then usually sweetened with orange juice or club soda and a little sugar. Sometimes brandy is added to the recipe also.
More recently Sangria has started to be made with white wine also, known as ‘Sangria Blanca’ this recipe will use dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc, fresh fruit including white grapes, lemon, peaches and melon, sweetened with some club soda sugar and spiked with Cointreau and a little Spanish sherry.
Today we’ll focus on a traditional Spanish Sangria, here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 750ml bottle of wine
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
- 1 orange cut into wedges
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 45 ml brandy
- 475 ml club soda
Preparation
- Pour the bottle of wine into a large pitcher
- Squeeze the juice from the fruit wedges into the wine and then add the wedges to the mixture
- Add sugar and brandy to the pitcher
- If possible, chill overnight to allow flavours to mix and grow
- Add club soda and ice to pitcher before serving
Equipment
- Large pitcher jug
