Sangria

Anyone have a great sangria recipe (including types of wine)?

The sangria at Coco Locos is pretty darn good. Maybe Rick will share how they make it.

Cheap red wine
Grand Gala
oranges with cloves pushed in the skin
lemon
lime juice
cinnamon sticks
diced up fruit

Let it cure for about 4 hours or so (it gets better with age)

Watch out if you eat the fruit. It's loaded with the alcohol.

Mojito seriously has some of the best sangria I've ever had.

The roommates used to make something like Sarita's recipe back in college. We made it in a large cooler and it took around 6 gallons of the cheapest red wine we could find. Usually the kind sold by the gallon for like $7-$8. We used 7-up, orange juice and tequila in addition to the fruits but I don't remember the quantity. It was usually pretty good.

Cheap red wine
Grand Gala
oranges with cloves pushed in the skin
lemon
lime juice
cinnamon sticks
diced up fruit

Let it cure for about 4 hours or so (it gets better with age)

Watch out if you eat the fruit. It's loaded with the alcohol.

To that I would add a 1/2 a cup (plus or minus) of Brandy

[Robin Garr]

Want a Sangria potion from a wine guy? Here's a short article I wrote years and years ago:

Sangria!

In the unlikely event we have any wine snobs in the audience, they might want to tune out now: Today's sermon proposes mixing wine with fruit and soda.

That's right: Summer's heat inspires thoughts of Sangria, the cooling Spanish summer wine punch. While I wouldn't recommend wasting a really great wine on this confection, a bowl of it makes a fine companion at poolside or on the porch, whether you're having a party or just enjoying it with friends and family.

My basic recipe is simple: Pour one bottle (750 ml) of dry red wine and an equal amount (more or less, depending on your taste) of club soda or sparkling water into a punch bowl. Add thin slices of citrus fruit - limes, lemons, oranges or a combination - to your taste. As optional extras, give it a shot of brandy or orange-flavored liqueur. If you like it sweet, add a little sugar. For a change of pace, make it with white wine (or even a modest bubbly) and substitute slices of kiwi or whole strawberries or table grapes for the citrus. Sangría is a forgiving punch -- it doesn't care if you change the rules in the middle of the bowl.

The wine you use to make Sangría should be palatable, of course, but as noted, you don't want to pour expensive wine into a casual drink like this. I turn toward Spanish reds like the fruity wines of Jumilla or La Mancha, but any modest, flavory red will do - a Cotes du Rhone, maybe.

When Victoria Station opening in Louisville in 1973 we were the only bar in town serving Sangria. We sold a blue ton of the stuff. VS sangria was pretty simple:

In a one gallon pitcher pour about 20 ounces of either white or red wine. (We used a lower- middle of the road Sebastiani)
Slice oranges, lemons and bananas into the wine and allow to sit for a couple of hours. Just before serving fill the pitcher to the brim with ice then add soda water (to the red wine) or 7 UP (to white wine) to almost the top. Float an once or brandy on top.(Again an inexpensive Christian Bros) Add a long handles wooden spoon to stir and mash up the fruit. I would think any variation of this would be fine. I like Robin's suggestion of an orange liqueur instead of brandy.

Well, after not getting enough responses soon enough, and a little googlin', I sort of cribbed from a few different recipes, including some posted here.

The night before, I mixed 12-15 ounces of inexensive brandy and 5 or so ounces of not inexpensive orange liquer with sliced limes, oranges, lemons, apples, pears, and sweet cherries.

The morning of, I added one bottle dry red Spanish wine and stirred enough to break up the fruit a little.

About an hour before serving, I added a second bottle of dry red Spanish wine, 32 ounces of ginger ale (Whole Foods brand with cane sugar, not HFCS), and about 6-8 ounces OJ. Stirred again.

The flavor was excellent. My only gripe was that the fruit (mostly the cherries, I think, and maybe a little with the pears) broke up a little more than I would have liked, adding a bit of texture that was too much depending on the sip. To remedy, I just put a few pieces of not-overly-macerated fruit in each cup, and then strained the liquid.

Great taste, though. In the future, I think it's best to watch overly mashing up softer fruits like cherries and pears.

[Robin Garr]

In the future, I think it's best to watch overly mashing up softer fruits like cherries and pears.

Yeah, I'd personally stick to a mix of citrus - orange, lemon and lime - but of course the joy of this thing is that it's tweakable. Glad it worked out, and I like your quick fix for the texture problem. Good thinking!

I have stopped using peaches, pears, plums, etc. in sangria because they tend to disintegrate. I usually stick to citrus, apples, grapes, and strawberries.

I add cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise pods to the fruit/brandy/liqueur mixture--they add amazing flavor!