Two friends recently brought over a Sunny Afternoon Sangria & Snacks Driveway Picnic, and I cannot express how perfect it was. Ever since then, I have been wanting sangria, something I have never made before.
What we used for the picnic was Opici Family White Sangria:
image from opiciwines.com
It was delicious, and the box is gorgeous. The only improvement I would want to make is alcohol content: it’s 7%, which is roughly the same as a wine cooler. It was perfect for a sunny afternoon, when at least one person was going to need to drive afterward—but let’s say instead I was bringing sangria to a get-together where we were all staying over and no one needed to drive. What THEN.
I still wish to use a BOX of wine. For one thing, I find boxes of wine delightful to use: the little spigot! For another thing, I enjoy the way a box of wine doesn’t keep TRACK of what anyone is consuming: the bottles don’t pile up; and there’s no issue of someone not wanting to finish off the rest of a bottle, or not knowing if they should start a new one. I know it is more typical to soak the fruits in the wine for awhile, which wouldn’t work well with the box idea—but it was even more fun to do a “choose your own fruits” set-up, where each person put whatever fruit they wanted into their glass and then added wine (via little spigot!).
So here is what I am looking for: opinions about the best (1) white (2) boxed (3) wine to use with fruit to make sangria. Also I invite any other comments about sangria, such as what are your favorite fruits to use.
I’d also suggest making a little syrup to add to the bottom of the glass- a combination of orange juice, brandy, simple syrup OR (more fun) to soak the fruit in the above syrup overnight. It’ll give it more of a sangria taste rather than a “fruit in your wine” taste. Peaches taste especially good soaked in that!
I love fresh peaches in Sangria—a local brunch place here does a sangria bar and they use several types of fresh fruit but ALSO the canned fruit cocktail for people who like it really sweet (like the syrupy kind with the peeled grapes and cherries).
Boxed wine has come a LONG way and imo most of it is as good or better than bottles. My favorites are Frontera or Black Box!
Made a lot of sangria back in college, to the point I wouldn’t use a recipe. Generally had a bottle or two of wine (white or red), a bottle of clear alcohol (vodka, everclear, rum etc), and a whatever bottle of juice seemed yummiest, with a bunch of fruit (usually the same type of fruit as was in the juice). Eyeball it and experiment with different combos. I also like adding a splash of something fizzy (sprite, ginger ale, plain fizzy water) to the glass after pouring.
Most popular one I made pretty regularly in the fall was an apple cider sangria with two bottles of white wine, a bottle of everclear, fresh apple cider, diced apples, cinnamon sticks, and topped with some ginger beer or ginger ale. Rim the glass with cinnamon sugar if you’re feeling fancy.
Not really answering your question, but the owner of my wine shop gave me his recipe for sangria, and it’s great because you can make it by the glass: equal parts red wine and Manishewitz ( inexpensive very sweet kosher wine) and a dash of Triple Sec- I buy one of the airline-sized bottles at the cash register. That adds a nice orangey flavor. It’s great to be able to whip up a quick glass for myself say, after work, without chopping up fruit and mixing up a whole batch.
We do a make-your-own sangria bar at our bi-weekly girl’s nights. Here’s what works for us:
Whatever white wine is on sale that week.
Something sparkly – sometimes it is sprite, ginger ale, or LaCroix(or other sparking water) sometimes champagne or prosecco.
at least 1 “juicy” fruit like oranges, limes, watermelon, peaches
at least 1 berry strawberry, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or even grapes!
To make sangria more “boozy” we like to add Malibu Rum to ours! The Coconut flavor adds a nice summery flavor.
We’ve found that apples don’t work as well for in-glass sangrias as the do when allowed to soak in the wine before hand.
I haven’t tried using boxed wine (love the idea though!) but I have fruit suggestions! When I make sangria at home, I use orange slices (think pretty cross-section slices with the peel holding it in a nice little circle) and sometimes blood orange for another color. Cherries are also great – if you pit them before you add them to your drink, they give their flavor to the drink and soak up some wine flavor, yummmm. I’ve added strawberries and raspberries, but they don’t give much flavor, they’re just fun to eat wine-soaked. :-)
Yum sangria! My go-to recipe is decidedly boozy: 1 bottle of wine, 3/4 cup brandy, 3/4 c Cointreau or Triple Sec (or OJ, if you want to cut down the alcohol content), 1.5 cups of juice (I go 3/4 cup apple and 3/4 cup cranberry). If I’m using red wine, I add a cut up orange, lemon, and lime, and if I’m using white wine, I like to add watermelon and peaches. I bet strawberries would be delicious also!
I’m not much of a drinker, so I’m kind of surprised to be commenting, but sangria is one of the only alcoholic drinks I actually like. I like watermelon in it.
I have no comments on Sangria but highly recommend a boxed wine holder to class it up. If you want your wine chilled you can put the boxed wine bag (removing cardboard box) and an ice pack or two inside the boxed wine holder and voila chilled wine. Not quite the same as a bottle in a silver ice bucket but better than opening the fridge every time a guest needs a refill
I LOVE Sangria; it features regularly on the menu for the gatherings that I have on my porch. So much so; I wrote a post about how I make mine, if you’re looking for recipes :) http://www.mscongeniality.com/2017/07/recipes-from-porch-summer-berry-and.html
For a boxed white wine, I like Block Wines which is what Trader Joe’s sells (at least near me).
As a bonus, here’s a recipe for my favorite wine with fruit drink. This is not a true sangria, but hits the same sweet spot for me. I believe my mom found this recipe in the NY Times Cooking section about 10 years ago.
Plum and Herb Wine Cocktail:
1. Make a rosemary simple syrup: Cook 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water and 4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary (or thyme) over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves; cool and remove the herb. [Note: I let my simple syrup cook until the mixture is the color of honey and I can strongly smell the rosemary.]
2. Combine 1 bottle not-too-dry white wine (like Riesling), 1/4 cup gin, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 to 4 chopped plums and 1/4 cup of the rosemary syrup.
3. Chill for at least 2 hours, taste and add more syrup if you like and serve.
I make this year round, so when plums are out of season I’ll throw in pears, peaches, or whatever else is available.