Even a Vampire Would Drink Our Sangria

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 29, 2006 3:45PM

The setting was a surprise party for a friend in Albany Park a couple weeks back (we get up north). The hosts were turning their backyard into an open air movie theater. It was a Friday night, they only had a couple hours in which to prepare. Needless to say, they were pretty swamped when we showed up. While talking about work gossip, one of the hosts asks, "Would you mind checking the sangria for us?"

We were hungry, and at that point were willing to do anything to get our hands on even a Tic-Tac. So, we pulled the punch bowl from the fridge, tasted it, figured out what was missing, and made their sangria ready to drink. Later, the guests arrived and raved about the hosts' amazing sangria, to which they acknowledged our last-minute contribution. We would have accepted the compliments with more grace than we did, but the hosts did most of the work, and we were reeking of charcoal from manning the grills, longing for the shower we so desperately craved once we got home.

Given time to prepare, sangria - translated from Spanish, it means "bleeding" - makes the perfect summer libation for picnics, al fresco dining, or just sitting on the front stoop with some Susana Baca, Mariza, or Amália Rodrigues floating over the urban cacophony. As a social lubricant, sangria is surpassed only by beer, and even that is open to debate. It's such a festive drink. But there are so many ways one can screw it up. It takes a little more than wine, fruit, and sugar to make a good sangria. We're going to share some of our secrets, after the jump.

The following are guidelines to making a great batch of sangria. Like any cocktail recipe, these aren't hard and fast rules, but they can't be totally ignored:

- For the love of all you consider holy, use a good wine. That doesn't mean go out and buy a bottle that retails at sixty bucks and scored a 94 in Wine Spectator, nor does it mean that you should use whatever boxed wine you find on sale at the supermarket. You want to buy a wine that's very fruit forward. If you're using red wine, use something full-bodied; if you're making sangria blanco, buy a sweeter white wine. If you're unsure, most wine stores will help you find a good selection, and even let you sample some options, if the selections are open for tasting.

- Use fruit that complements the wine. Example: If you're making a sangria blanco from a white wine with tropical fruit notes on the palate, you don't want to throw in a tart fruit, like green apples or pears. If your wine has deep fruit flavors flavors on the palate, use deep flavored fruits like peaches, plums, or black cherries. If the wine is brghter on the palate, use fruit like apples, pears, and white grapes.

- Use a rich sweetener, like honey, molasses, or brown sugar. Processed white sugar will give your sangria a dry finish and one hell of a hangover. You don't need to use as much of the richer sweeteners. They'll also enhance the flavor of the wine. Our rule of thumb is to add a quarter cup for every liter of wine used.

- Consider using brandy, cognac, or a liqueur to complement the flavors of the added fruit. For our standard sangrias, we use a smooth, rich cognac, like Courvosier, Landy, or Pierre Ferrand Selecion des Anges. You don't need to use much; about 2-3 ounces for every liter of wine. For sangria blanco, we would use something like Mathilde Poire or Peche liqueurs. In a pinch, triple sec will suffice.

- Give the fruit time to absorb the wine. Think of the ingredients in sangria as a mutual marinade. If you're throwing a marinated steak on the grill, you're going to let that steak take in as much of the marinade as it can absorb. The same holds true for sangria. Don't just cut up the fruit, throw it in, and serve.

- Have some mixers on hand, like club soda or cola. Haro, the popular tapas and pinxtos restaurant in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood, makes a mean kalimotxo, which is sangria with an added splash of cola.

Finally, we're providing a plethora of sangria recipes for you to peruse, if you click here. Try some out and let us know how they taste.