The Best Sangria

Kimke's Note:

The longer sangria sits before drinking, the more smooth and mellow it will taste. A full day is best, but if that's impossible, give it an absolute minimum of two hours to sit. Use large, heavy, juicy oranges and lemons for the best flavor. Doubling or tripling the recipe is fine, but you'll have to switch to a large punch bowl in place of the pitcher. From America's Test Kitchen

• Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 large oranges, washed,one orange sliced,remaining orange juiced
• 1 large lemon, washed and sliced
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup triple sec
• 1 (750 ml) bottle inexpensive fruity medium-bodied red wine, chilled

Directions:

1. Add sliced orange and lemon and sugar to large pitcher; mash gently with wooden spoon until fruit releases some juice, but is not totally crushed, and sugar dissolves, about 1 minute.
2. Stir in orange juice, Triple Sec, and wine; refrigerate for at least 2, and up to 8, hours.
3. Before serving, add 6 to 8 ice cubes and stir briskly to distribute settled fruit and pulp; serve immediately.

Reviews

[Kim127]

This is some pretty potent stuff!! Very pretty to serve in a glass pitcher. After the first glass I cut it down with some seltzer and 7 up to make a kind of sangria spritzer.

[trixiecat]

I was somewhat surprised at the other reviews. Maybe what these people were looking for was a wine cooler rather than sangria. This was excellent. We served it at a cocktail party with rave reviews. Obviously it is strong, being basically only wine and triple sec with some fruit thrown in. If you are looking for sangria look here, if you are looking for a wine cooler, go to the grocery store!

[beckas]

I made this after visiting the America's Test Kitchen site. The sangria turned out to be very strong, even after sitting for six hours. I guess I prefer a more diluted sangria. I ended up diluting the mixture with orange juice and sprite. I also didn't care for the lemon slices (maybe I wasn't supposed to eat them?) They were too tart, even after floating in the wine for a long time.