Sangría

To avoid losing carbonation, do not add the club soda until you serve your Sangría.

This particular recipe works best when prepared an hour or two in advance. You can leave it overnight but note that it will have a bit of bitterness from the citrus peels. You can always balance this out with some simple syrup before serving.

In terms of types of red wine, we recommend going for something a bit on the dryer side. You could get a Beaujolais, Pinot Noir, Grenache or Tempranillo. Depending on your wine, consider adding one or two tablespoons of sugar.

There are countless variations of Sangría. All of them generally have a combination of wine, citrus, water (i.e.: club soda) and some form of sweetener.

Some recipes include port or vermouth, which you should feel free to experiment with. You might also want to try adding a small amount of Licor 43, to add vanilla notes.

In terms of fruits, citrus tends to go best. You could consider grapefruit or tangerines. Some people enjoy adding apples or strawberries.

Other potential additions would be in the form of baking spices (nutmeg, clove). These will push the Sangría into more autumn / winter flavors.

The tradition of mixing wine with other ingredients can be traced back even as far as the Roman Empire, where wine would be mixed with water and spices to enhance its flavor.

A Spanish Dictionary from 1788 (p. 435) defines “Sangre-gris” (literally grey blood) as a “drink created by the British, fairly popular in British and French colonies in America”. It describes it as having lemon juice or cider, mixed with wine from the Isle of Madeira, as well as cinnamon, clove, lots of nutmeg and toasted bread.

The same dictionary has an entry for Sangría, but it defines it as a surgical procedure.

Sangre-gris could be related to Sang-gris, a drink created in the French West Indies (French Antilles) in the mid 17th century which is made with wine, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices.

Alternatively, Sangre-gris instead refers to Sangaree, a punch drink which mixes fortified wine (usually port), sugar, brandy and spices (mainly nutmeg), which also dates back to the 1700s.

Sangría, as we know it today, was popularized in Spain in the 1960s, when an influx of tourists made it to this part of the world.

According to the European Parliament, a drink can only be called Sangría if it’s made in Spain or Portugal.

Sangría was first introduced to the United States in 1964, in the World’s Fair held in New York. Other foods also introduced in that year’s World’s Fair were Belgian waffles, falafel, kimchi and hummus.