I do have a few slight twists I like use for my own sangria recipe. I like to add berries, like blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries. While apples and oranges are more traditional, I find berries infuse more flavor and color into the wine. I also like to stir in a little soda water when I serve just for some extra pizzaz. That sparkle just gives the sangria a little Lambrusco-esque zing. Sometimes instead of soda water I’ll even add some blood orange soda (San Pellegrino) to jazz it up even more. For the red wine, I recommend buying a cheap bottle for this recipe, frankly. We’ll be mixing it with so many other flavorful ingredients that even a lower-quality wine will taste great, and the quality of a more expensive wine would go unappreciated. Rioja wine from Spain is traditional for sangria. If you can’t find an inexpensive bottle of rioja at the store, any favorite inexpensive red wine that you already like to drink will do. A zinfandel would work great in sangria. The best part? You can whip this sangria together and serve it right away, or make it a few hours ahead and let the flavors of the fresh fruit really meld with the wine. (You can even make several days ahead. Keep it in the fridge and the fruit in the sangria will start to naturally ferment and create bubbles.) A bit of fruit, a little orange juice, some brandy. Boom, boom, done. If you want, add some soda water or a little blood orange soda (I like blood orange San Pellegrino) to your sangria for some bubbles and a little extra pizzaz.
