How to Make an Inexpensive, Sugar-Optional Sangria Using What's on Hand

From the Spanish word for blood, "sangre," comes the bloody well delightful wine punch, sangria. Sangria is wine when it dons a fiesta dress, puts a flower behind its ear, and starts to party. Sangria is the taste of joy and summertime. How remarkable that a beverage served only in warm regions or when the summer sets in in earnest, a beverage that makes guests lurch toward it with gigantic grins, could be so ridiculously easy to make. The hardest part, really, is deciding which kind of sangria to make, what variations to play with, and how best to use what you have on hand. Lastly, sangria lets you stretch your beverage dollar, as a wine cocktail costs much less than other cocktails. So, cheers to sangria for its place as the frugal gourmet adult beverage of fun. Read on to learn how to make an inexpensive, sugar-optional sangria using what's on hand.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• One bottle of wine--could be white, red or rose, sparkling or still, sweet or dry
• Two to three cups fruit juice or sparkling water or a combination of the two (approximately half a wine bottle's worth of liquid)
• Two cups of fresh or frozen fruit or a combination of the two
• Optional: 1/4 cup (four tablespoons) liquor, clear alcohol, brandy or cognac
• A minimum amount of ice, so as not to dilute the sangria
• An attractive pitcher for serving the sangria

1. Start with any kind of wine you like--cheap wine, fine wine, sparkling wine, dessert wine, red wine, white wine--it all tastes fabulous in sangria.

2. For each bottle of wine you use, add roughly half the equivalent quantity of other liquids. The liquid portion could be sparkling water (good because it adds no sugar), fruit juice, sweetened sodas (like ginger ale), lemonade or a combination. Only add more than that with caution, or your sangria will become too diluted. Feel free to add less, though, for a more potent version. But taste test to be sure.

3. Add about two cups of fruit per bottle of wine--fresh, frozen, or a combination: mixed fruit, all-one-fruit--you are the designer of this punch. But do use at least a bit of fresh citrus, because it lends such a punch to your punch. Use fruit that looks pretty floating in the sangria, like peaches and sliced strawberries. Yum! Probably best to avoid bananas or any starchy fruit, but pretty much anything else goes nicely in sangria. Pineapple, blueberries, melon--why not?

4. Add a kicker, if you like, in the form of 1/4 cup of booze per bottle of wine. This could be brandy, cognac or a flavored liquor, such as Grand Marnier, Kirsch, Chambord, limoncello or the like. Stay away from whiskey, bourbon and dark liquors, but rum or vodka work wonderfully. The kicker step is optional.

5. Taste the pre-chilled sangria to see if it's sweet enough. If not, you may want to add a bit of simple sugar. Simple sugar is just sugar mixed with water, and then microwaved so that the sugar dissolves. You do not want crunchy sugar crystals in your drink.

6. Cover, and let the fruit, wine and liquid mixture rest in a refrigerator for at least two hours, if you have time. This lets the flavors have a chance to mingle and get happy before their big debut. Chilling means you won't have to add as much ice. Ice will dilute and change the proportions of your mix-mastering.

7. Garnish before serving with a few slices of fresh fruit and a frugal amount of ice, if desired. Citrus slices looks lovely, giant strawberries would work and pineapple too. Have fun with it. Viva la sangria.

Tips & Warnings

• Cheap wine may give you a residual yucky feeling the next day, unless you go with a good cheap brand, like "Two-buck Chuck," available at Trader Joe's. If you live within proximity to a Trader Joe's, you are in luck. They sell a delightful, inexpensive wine of Napa Valley vintage called "Charles Shaw." Charles Shaw is owned by the Bronco Wine Company, and costs a meager $1.99 per bottle. You heard right. (Surely it's more than that just to bottle the wine.) Rest assured, Two-buck Chuck is decidedly NOT rotgut--it's an entirely drinkable wine, and the absolutely best option for sangria-making. Feel free to use whatever wine you have on hand, though.
• Don't forget the option of using champagne. Oh, how lovely those bubbles taste in a sangria.
• To keep from diluting your sangria, you can always freeze the juice or sparkling water you use in Step 2 by pouring it into ice cube trays and letting it harden. Use these cubes of frozen juice/ice instead of liquid.
• You can add a bit of spice by squeezing some grated, peeled ginger root into your sangria, or float peeled, thinly sliced ginger root in the sangria. The combo of champagne-peaches-ginger juice-ginger ale is great. Ginger juice works better with white-wine based sangrias than red ones, though.
• Think about keeping some choice frozen fruit on hand--like mixed berries, mango, or pineapple--these not only are fruit that may not be in season otherwise, but the sheer coldness of the frozen fruit kicks the sangria up a notch. But if you do use frozen fruit, at least add some fresh fruit. Why? Because the frozen fruit isn't as pretty, usually, as fresh fruit is. Part of the appeal of sangria is visual. Think circles of citrus dancing lazily in frosty glasses.
• Do not add granulated sugar to any cold drink. You will get crunchy bits that are disconcerting to your guests. Simply mix sugar with at least an equal amount of water, and then microwave lightly until the sugar dissolves (should take around a minute, depending on how much sugar you use). Add the simple sugar to your beverage before chilling. However, if you are using sweet fruit, sweet fruit juice and sweet liquor in your sangria, try making the sangria without added sugar--you may be delightfully surprised.

Resources

• Trader Joe's Website