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It’s summer’s last hurrah, and I’m making sangria.
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I’m not the kind of guy who sits around and sips wine – not at parties, not at art galleries, not at home, not at fancy grocery stores on a Saturday afternoon. And that’s not because I’m a beer drinker; I’m not. When it comes to legal drug abuse, I turn to liquor, usually in the form of a cocktail. However, I do love wine with food. (At this time, we would admit Exhibit ‘A’ into evidence as Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1.) I also love wine in food, which brings me to my current dilemma: I just opened a bottle of Little Lakes Cabernet Sauvignon, California 2014 to use in a mushroom sauce. Now that it’s opened, it has a limited shelf life. Given my wine drinking limitations, what’s a guy to do?
Simple Sangria from Leftover Wine! Just to be clear, though, this isn’t a post about how to set out to make a great sangria. Google took less than half a second to find almost 16 million recipes. This post is about how to use up some leftover wine by turning it into a great sangria with what you have on-hand. I’m going to assume you usually have fruit around – which is good, because you’re going to need some. Brandy – which you’ll also need – I’m betting you might have, mainly because it’s useful in quite a few food and beverage recipes.
Ingredients:
Wine
Sugar[a]
Brandy[b]
Fruit, unpeeled, sliced or chunked, seeded or cored if applicable[c]
How to do it:
- Measure your wine. It takes ½-cup of wine to produce a serving of sangria; calculate how many half-cups you have, pour them into a pitcher, and set any extra wine aside for the moment.
- For each ½-cup of wine, you’ll want 1 Tbs + 1 tsp of sugar, and an equal (1 Tbs + 1 tsp) amount of brandy. Add this to the pitcher and stir. (If you set aside any extra wine in Step 1, you could add it now and adjust the sugar and brandy to taste.) Stir vigorously.
- Next, add as much sliced or chunked fruit as you can keep submerged in the wine. Stir. Chill for at least an hour, several hours would be better, overnight would be preferable. Serve over ice.
Notes and Options:
- Instead of sugar, you can add 7-Up, or any of the Pellegrino citrus flavors: ⅔-cup (or to taste) per serving. Don’t add it until you’re ready to serve. This will simultaneously lighten and sweeten your sangria. (You can also lighten the sangria with sparkling water.) You may have a hard time getting sugar to dissolve into wine, especially if the wine is cold. In that case, dissolve the sugar in an equal amount of water (heating it, if necessary, to facilitate the process) before adding it to the wine. You can also dissolve sugar into alcohol or fruit juice by shaking/stirring with grit, determination, and endurance, or by applying heat.
- In addition to brandy, you could add Cointreau: 1 Tbs + 1 tsp for every ½-cup of wine.
- The sky’s the limit in terms of fruit: oranges, apples, lemons, (limes), grapes – these are classic. But if you want to veer off the beaten path: blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, any kind of berries, cherries, mango, peaches, kiwi, pear, even banana or melon. Grapefruit will impart the citrus you probably want, with a mild, yet mysteriously refreshing astringent note. You could add orange juice: 1 Tbs + 1 tsp for every ½-cup of wine. OJ will change your sangria’s texture; if you’d rather not do that, consider orange soda instead.
Simple Sangria from Leftover Wine
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. In doing research for this post, I found Ramshackle Pantry, Martha Stewart, Epicurious, and The New York Times to be useful. Thank you, Kesor.
Sangria usually comes to mind on lazier warm days with people over. A favorite around here. The “leftover wine” concept is new to me though.
Yeah, I’m starting to see that I’m a bit of an oddball in that I commonly have leftover wine…
Yep. Sangria follows a simple formula and this is it. Cheers. GREG
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Lovely. We never have leftover wine, but I always have another bottle! I never made sangria until my daughter spent a summer in Spain. What a waste of time! Now I make it often – lots of times for parties. I do like topping it off with Fresca after I pour some in the glass – it adds some effervescence.
Honestly, if I’d known how delicious a sangria one could make on the fly at home, I would’ve started making it decades ago.
I find I have to be real careful drinking sangria. It tastes like fruit punch and goes down real easily- I don’t notice the alcohol until it’s too late! I made some sangria several months ago and used some Schweppes lemonade for the fizzy part- good to know I could just substitute that with sugar or even 7-up!
I know what you mean – they do go down easy … all the more so if you lighten them with something sweet and/or carbonated.
Thanks, Jeff.
Oh no, thank YOU, Udon.
Such a lovely summer drink and perfect use of leftover wine!
angiesrecipes recently posted…Red Currant Upside Down Cake with Red Wheat and Buckwheat
Thanks, Angie!
My sister has recently taught me to make sangria using of our leftover cheap red wine with red grapefruit juice and lime juice. This was the first time I made and tried sangria and immediately I falled in love with it. The recipe was simple to follow and taste was so good, not too strong at first so that I drank much. The result was that, of course I got drunk and must spend the whole next day morning on the bed due to headache.
Malissa@skyhomestead recently posted…How Learning Canning Ideas And Recipes Could Save You Money And Time
My uncle owned a couple bars, and here’s what he taught me: before going to bed in that condition, take two aspirin with a large glass of water. (Drink the whole glass.) Then eat something small and light, but very sweet, like a popsicle. I swear by it. No headache the next morning.
I love how versatile sangria is – refreshing in the summer, comforting in the winter!
Rebekah recently posted…Lemon Pasta Salad
This summer was my first sangria foray. I’ll look forward to a comforting winter!
At first glance, I was like, “huh? leftover wine? Is that really a thing?” But I get it. We often have a bottle of wine open on the counter, too. (We use one of those vacuum pumps to seal it up and get a few extra days out of it…mainly because we try to only drink on the weekends. Silly us.) But turning that wine into sangria is always a good move!
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Thanks, David!
This is just about the most civilized thing one can do with leftover wine. I can’t say that we have ever had leftover white wine (my poison of choice) but reds we do! Not so much in the summer but indeed in the winter. I’ve tried freezing wine in cubes for future sauces but it really only makes a slushy quality mush which inadvertently leaks into the freezer, forcing a cleanout earlier than expected. Sangria is something I’ve enjoyed many times in restaurants but not at home, what an excellent idea. I just love those little retro old-fashioned glasses you have.
Amen for anything civilized these days!
First of all Jeff, when you said “given my wine drinking limitations, what’s a guy to do?”. I said out load “I’ll have the rest of that wine, thank you!” Ha ha. But seriously. Thanks for this recipe! I’ll be giving this a go as I’ve got most of the ingredients. I just need some leftover wine. Which will be more difficult to come across. 😉
Right? If we all lived closer together, all my leftover wine problems would be solved!
Leftover wine? What’s that? A concept I don’t understand. 🙂 But if I happened to have leftover wine, this is a terrific way to use it. Great ratios for the wine/sugar/brandy — good stuff. Thanks.
John / Kitchen Riffs recently posted…The Cloister Cocktail
I know, clearly I’m an outlier in the leftover wine department!
It’s been too long since I’ve made sangria! This is a great use for extra wine.
Thanks, Lisa!
I love the way you think! I have a few bottles just lingering that would make the perfect end of summer sangria and I think i’ll throw in some fine Colorado peaches. After all,I never need an excuse to drink wine!
Thanks, Abbe! Enjoy those peaches!
I’m glad you’re as frugal as I am, Jeff. Great idea to revive old wine. With a little Cointreau to brighten things up, whose to know? 😉
Frank recently posted…Couscous di pesce (Fish Couscous)
Agreed!
I do love a good sangria! I’ve actually had it on my mind as we approach the end of summer…will definitely give your recipe a try.
Marissa recently posted…Creamy Cucumber Salad
Yes, a toast to the lovely summer we’ve had.
Sangria is the perfect hot summer drink (or cold winter). Great recipe, but my problem is I don’t remember ever having leftover wine. Looks good enough to open a bottle and make a full batch. Knowing you love cocktails, have you ever had a Svensk polarbjörncocktail (Swedish polar bear cocktail)?
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No, I’ve never even heard of a Swedish polar bear cocktail! It sounds intriguing!
Oh Sangria! Yes please. So easy to make and always so good. I love your recipes.
Thank you, Alida!
My husband is a beer drinker and I mainly drink wine when out to dinner or at a party—so I find myself with the same dilemma numerous times a year. I tend to freeze my leftovers, but I love the idea of sangria. I never knew the “formula, ” but now I’m armed and ready to go! Thanks, Jeff!
Welcome to the very small club of people with leftover wine! 😉
My friends and I love drinking sangria on a chill night, just having finger foods along with good life stories! Thank you for sharing this with us.
Invite me over!
why not as long as you’re willing to fly over here to the philippines!
Hmm, one of these days!
I have leftover red wine when I invite one of our friends over. She likes a red that I don’t care for (too much tannins) and this would be the perfect way to use it.
Karen (Back Road Journal) recently posted…The Pillars Hotel – Fort Lauderdale
Absolutely!
I love wine country and since I live in Washington I’ve visited winey country here and in Oregon, plenty of times. The last time I was in Napa I was very young and would love to return as I really loved the landscape. Domaine Carneros is quite grand and I’d love to see the winery -Grgich Hills Estate- that put California wines on the map. I also like train rides and that would be such a fun way to taste wines and see the scenery pass by slowly.
Great recipe, but my problem is I don’t remember ever having leftover wine. Looks good enough to open a bottle and make a full batch. Knowing you love cocktails, have you ever had a Svensk polarbjörncocktail (Swedish polar bear cocktail)?
You’re clearly in the majority! I have to tell you that after working up this post, I did open a few bottles just to make it! Anyway, hey – I’ve never had a Svensk polarbjörn! Where have I been, hiding under a rock? I looked up a recipe, and it sounds fantastic. Do you have a favorite method to make one?
Hello! Thanks for this recipe! I’ll be giving this a go as I’ve got most of the ingredients. I just need some leftover wine. Which will be more difficult to come across.
whisky recently posted…Best Cosmopolitan Recipe Ideas
I know what you mean. It’s clear to me that having leftover wine puts me in a small crowd of people.
I really enjoyed reading about your adventure and perusing all your excellent photos. It’s also good to note that some events in wineries provide an option of non-drinker passes. I bet that you must try the formula of this wine and enjoy.
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Lovely Post. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Rock & Storm recently posted…Hello world!
This tastes amazing! I tried it out last week and it turned out perfect. Thanks for sharing!
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It is great blog post. Helpful and Informative blog. I like it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I love your thoughts of Cabernet Sauvignon with mushroom sauce, this is a delightful combination!
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Thank you, Jessica!