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Sink Some Sangria

BY READERS DIGEST

1st Jan 2015 Drinks

Sink Some Sangria
This chilled wine punch can be a refreshing and elegant drink. Here's the perfect summer sangria recipe.
The orange in this month’s recipe led me into sangria territory for the paired drink. In its purest form, the chilled wine punch can be a refreshing and elegant drink. All too often, though, it’s laced with a medley of spirits, sugar syrups and whole fruit salad. After a little experimentation, I settled on a simple trio: red wine, brandy and orangeade.
Sangria recipes often involve macerating the fruit, but this really isn’t necessary. The only rule I would stick to is avoiding the temptation of days-old wine. Sure, there’s no point using something top-notch, but sangria shouldn’t be an excuse to use the dregs. So chill something sensible, pick a safe selection of fruits and give sangria a second chance.

Ingredients

  • 15–20 large ice cubes
  • 1 bottle of chilled wine
  • 660ml chilled mixer (orangeade
  • or lemonade, see below for tips)
  • 50ml of brandy (optional)
  • 1–2 oranges, thinly sliced in circles

Method

  1. Half fill a pitcher with ice.
  2. Pour in half the bottle of wine and one can of mixer to start with.
  3. Stir in the brandy and orange slices, and add equal amounts of wine and mixer until full. As it’s drunk, refill the jug in the same fashion.
 
Try these wines in your Sangria:
Wine for Sangria
Toro Loco Tempranillo, Aldi, £3.79/bottle
Simply Garnacha, Tesco, £4.79/bottle
Aromatic and Citrus Spanish White Wine, Waitrose, £4.99/bottle

Maximising the mixer

  • A big percentage of sangria is made up of the mixer, so don’t scrimp. Fever-Tree’s Sicilian Lemonade and Marks and Spencer’s pink cranberry lemonade all add flavour and fizz. 
  • Large ice cubes are key to a good sangria; they chill the punch instead of diluting it. Try Nisbets’ big ice cube tray (nisbets.co.uk).
  • If you’re catering for a big gathering, then don’t shy away from bag-in-box wines as a cost-efficient option.

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