The Best Red Sangria
Meet the best sangria you’ll ever have! Made with fresh fruit, brandy and red wine, this classic red sangria recipe will hit the spot. It’s so easy to make!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Life is good! Let’s celebrate with this classic red sangria recipe. Sure, I love a glass of wine at the end of a long day, but sangria is best shared with friends.
Sangria is festive, fruity and fun. It’s a perfect party punch to pair with Spanish tapas or Mexican food. Cold sangria is undeniably great on hot summer days. The red wine base and versatile seasonal fruit options make it appropriate for cooler days, too!
Sangria hails from Spain, although funny enough, my friend Ali lives in Spain and says they don’t drink it often over there. I visited Barcelona with friends in college and we bought cheap cartons of sangria from the convenience store by the beach. I don’t recommend that stuff.
We’re going to make real sangria with good wine and fresh fruit today. Through research and trial and error, I’ve learned how to make the best red sangria. Ready?!
Red Sangria Ingredients
Start with these basic ingredients and you’ll end up with the best sangria you’ve ever had! Spoiler: you do not need any sweet liqueurs, sodas like 7-Up, or tons of sugar.
1) Bottle of Garnacha or Pinot Noir
The best wine for sangria is Garnacha (also called Grenache) or Pinot Noir. Garnacha comes from Spain, so it’s my top pick for authentic Spanish sangria! Choose an inexpensive wine (under $20) that you would enjoy on its own.
Why Garnacha and Pinot Noir? They’re fruity, low-tannin red wines. Tannins are naturally-occurring compounds in grape skins, seeds and stems that can make the wine taste bitter or astringent. Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, is high in tannins.
When it comes to sangria, the problem with tannins is that they taste weird when chilled. Cold high-tannin wine tastes sort of chalky, extra-astringent and generally not good.
It’s difficult to combat those funky flavors, and I suspect sangrias are often loaded with sugar in an attempt to counteract the bitterness of the tannins.
2) Fresh ripe fruit
Fruit infuses the wine with fresh flavor and sweetness, and gives the sangria a fun confetti vibe. I always squeeze half of an orange into the sangria, then thinly slice the other half. I use lemon instead of lime based on a tip from America’s Test Kitchen.
Then I add seasonal fruit—I love to use strawberries or peaches in the warmer months, and apples and pears in cooler months. Any combination will do!
3) Brandy
Brandy turns wine into a true cocktail and adds some kick. You don’t need to spend a lot on brandy. I used E & J Brandy VSOP for this sangria.
In the mood for a more mellow, lower-alcohol content sangria? You can skip the brandy, use less of it, or dilute the sangria with some club soda.
4) Sweetener, to taste
You know I’m conservative with sweeteners, but sometimes a tiny bit helps balance the flavor of the brandy and rounds out the flavors. I also try to use natural sweetener when I can, and I’m excited to share that maple syrup is surprisingly awesome in sangria!
Real maple syrup offers a very subtle caramel-like flavor that plays well with red wine and adds some extra complexity. It blends right into the other ingredients, which is nice. I usually only add one to two tablespoons of it, to taste. Start with the right wine and flavorful fruit, and you might not need any at all!
Enjoy Sangria Now or Later
Sangria is a fantastic make-ahead party punch. Stir it all together and refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours for maximum fruity flavor.
In a hurry? Sangria doesn’t require a long rest before serving if you start with chilled wine and flavorful fruit! Squeezing half of the orange directly into the wine makes it taste a little fruity right off the bat, and the fragrance of the remaining fruit helps it taste quite fruity.
Therefore, sangria is also an easy throw-together party cocktail if you keep a bottle of wine in the fridge. Are you as excited about this as I am?
Watch How to Make Sangria
Want to throw a Spanish-style get-together? Serve this sangria with olives, cheese, and vegetable paella. You might also like my gazpacho and Mediterranean-style tomato dips, including Sonja and Alex’s baked goat cheese with tomato sauce and my Mediterranean tomato and feta dip.
Craving a fun spin on classic red sangria? Don’t miss my strawberry rosé sangria (available in my cookbook, page 131), watermelon white sangria, or blood orange pomegranate sangria (perfect for the winter holidays). I have many more fresh cocktail recipes here!
Please let me know how this sangria recipe turns out in the comments! Your feedback keeps me going, and I’m eager to hear what you serve with this sangria. Better yet, can I come to your party?
Best Red Sangria
Meet the best sangria you’ll ever have! Made with fresh fruit, brandy and red wine, this classic red sangria recipe will hit the spot. It’s so easy to make! Recipe yields 1 pitcher; enough for six glasses.
Ingredients
- 1 bottle of affordable Garnacha (also called Grenache) or Pinot Noir or other fruity low-tannin red wine, chilled
- 1 large orange
- 1 cup thinly sliced seasonal fruit (I like Granny Smith apple or pear, strawberries, peaches or nectarines, pineapple or a combination)
- 1 small lemon, sliced into thin rounds
- ½ cup brandy
- 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup*, to taste
- Ice, for serving
Instructions
- To prepare the orange, slice it in half from the stem end downward. Squeeze the juice of one-half of the orange into a pitcher. Thinly slice the remaining orange half and place the slices into the pitcher.
- Add the prepared seasonal fruit and lemon. Add the brandy and 1 tablespoon of the maple syrup. Pour the wine into the pitcher and stir to combine. Taste, and add another tablespoon of maple syrup if it’s not sweet enough for your liking.
- You can serve this sangria immediately, or let it marinate for 2 to 8 hours for more fruity flavor. Serve in wine glasses with a few ice cubes to keep it chilled. Enjoy!
Notes
*Maple syrup alternatives: I love maple syrup’s very subtle caramel-like flavor and how it blends right into other liquids. But, you can also use sugar (brown or white) or simple syrup instead.
Change it up: For a lighter, fizzy sangria, gently stir some club soda into the pitcher just before serving.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Love sangria, but haven’t made my own before! Can’t wait to make this :)
I think you’re gonna love it, Brittany! Please report back. :)
Nice
Sangria is one of my faves—especially if there’s lots of fresh fruit!
For the summer, absolutely!
Lately, I’ve really shunned red wine. I guess it’s because of the warm weather. But I think I’m definitely going to celebrate Friday with some sangria this weekend! Thanks for the timely recipe and reminder that I still love red wine even in the summer.
You’re welcome! Let me know what you think, Sera.
I admit, I probably didn’t have the right wine (City Target was not the right place to get a bottle of Rioja), and I actually had a fancy bottle of pear brandy. But this recipe is forgiving and definitely really good.
I admit I added a little soda water to it to lighten it up a bit because I was trying not to get too drunk too fast. It was fantastic. Such a great finish to the summer. Thanks!
Sera, thanks so much for reporting back! I’m so glad your sangria turned out great. Now I want to try pear brandy!
Your sangria recipe was BEST the girls now have the recipe thank you dolores dolores
I’m glad you agree, Dolores! Thanks so much for your review.
Just finished making this. Can’t wait to post about it! Perfect refreshment for summer’s end!!
Hooray! Thank you, Stephanie. I’m so happy you tried it and really enjoyed it as much as I did.
Yay! One of my best favourite! I can even enjoy a pot of red sangria just in one chill-out weekend afternoon xD
– Natalie Ellis
I agree! Thank you, Natalie. :)
Spring is on it’s way South of the equator, so sangria will be rolled out once it warms up enough. I can’t wait to try your recipe! (Served with your nachos!)
Thanks, Nessa! I hope you really love it. Nachos and sangria, you’re speaking my language!
This looks delish!
One quick note: grenache and garnacha are the same grape, but grenache is French and garnacha is Spanish. So you can’t buy a bottle of Grenache from Spain. ;-)
Agh! Thank you for sharing, Bethany. Somehow I missed that nuance when I was reading all about wine for sangria. Fixed it!
Fantastic recipe! Tried it out this weekend, absolute winner. And very helpful information about which wine to pick for sangria. Thank you!
Thank you so much for reporting back, Lisa! Thrilled to hear it.
You are a lot of fun to read…..
You make me want to invite friends over for a Mexican feast.
Thanks, Charlotte! :) I love your party idea, hope it happens soon!
That sangria looks delicious! I’m definitely going to have to try it with our next homemade meal!
Thank you, Ali! Hope you love it.
I really liked this version of a Sangria
I made one pitcher with a Pinot Noir and another one with the Spanish wine to compare….both were fantastic….I did not add club soda to make a lighter version
I love that you tried both, Ulrike! Thanks for reporting back!
This was excellent sangria. I used Pinot noir and a combination of strawberries, peaches and cherries. Thanks for a great recipe!
Oh, peaches and cherries! I bet those flavors were delightful. Thanks for sharing, Vivian
Dear Kate, I am Spanish myself and this recipe looks very authentic to me minus the maple syrup of course hehe! Also, yes to lemons instead of limes, lime is an exotic fruit here in Spain and therefore not part of the original recipe I guess. Yes, it’s true that Sangría is not drunk on a regular basis here and it’s usually saved for summer months, but it is something quite festive and popaular and you can order it in any restaurant or bar because everyone enjoys it as it’s sweet and easy to drink. Although sadly, because of that, I think a some people see it as a lower-quality drink, a misconception that probably stems from the fact that sometimes restaurants and bars use terrible wine to make in the first place which then requires using a ton sugar as you mentioned! I want to thank you for recommending a good quality Garnacha, it really shows that you have taken the time to research this recipe. Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that, Patricia! I’m glad it has your authentic seal of approval :) I take my research seriously! Who wouldn’t for a recipe like this too, ha.
Hi Kate,
Love sangria, im going to make one, however, im out of brandy and local store also run out. Have you try using whiskey instead? Have anybody try this?
Ruby
I haven’t tried whiskey. I’m not sure about the flavor combination with the overall combination of flavors.
Ok, thanks Kate, I might try with small portion and let you know..
I have made this recipe (well a double batch of this recipe) twice for get togethers. I used Pinot Noir with apple, pear, and plums. Both times it was loved by all and none was leftover. Your explanations in the post were very helpful. I love the maple syrup addition. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Lauren!
!ime for another glass :-)
Great recipe, Kate! I tried it without brandy or sugar and let it sit in the refrigerator for two days. It was very good!
Thank you for sharing, Sasha!
What if for sweetener and for that orangish flavour and the fizz I add a little fanta instead of maple syrup and soda??
You know, I’m not sure! Sounds interesting.
What size bottle of wine?
Hi John! Standard size, which is typically 750 ml, holds 1 standard bottle or 5 glasses of wine.
You failed to mention what size bottle of wine for this recipe
How much brandy do you use?
1/2 cup brandy. It’s in the ingredients list. :)
Thank you! I made this for Christmas a few years ago and it was excellent. I think I was reading your write up about VSOP and not the ingredients list when I asked how much brandy. It was a few years ago but I was stressing about this ha ha…I was looking in the wrong place. I am making it again for Halloween tomorrow because everyone loved it so much last time I made it!
I made the sangria for my 60th birthday last week and everyone loved it . A couple of people asked for the recipe. I have never had sangria before and I love this recipe . Thanks for sharing
How fun and happy birthday!
Could I replace the red wine with white in this recipe or would the brandy not mix well with white? Thanks!
I’ve read other recipes that incorporate ginger ale and lemonade as well as cinnamon. Have you tried this yourself?
Hi Carmen, I can’t say that I have.
Fantastic recipe!!!! Have made it and it tastes delicious!! Great tip to know what type of red wine to use too!!!
Thanks for sharing, Christina!
I cut up the fruits that you suggested in this recipe, and added them to a bottle of nonalcoholic sparkling sangria. We enjoyed it with our Cuban-inspired meal of pork roast, Vigo black beans and rice, and fried ripe plantains (Goya’s frozen). Mom asked me to make this combination again before too long. Easy, tasty, and not too many pots and pans to wash.
Thank you for sharing, Ruth!
Made this for friends last night to go with my tapas night food, it was delicious, used Pinot Noir and added the brandy. Fun to make and very easy. We all loved it! Thanks for the recipe
Thanks for sharing, Kim!
Can I make this a day before or is 8 hours the max you’d make ahead?
The fruit might start to break down more than desired.
was great until I added the maple syrup. Now no one will drink it
I’m sorry you didn’t love it, Lynne. Thank you for your feedback!
This was a huge hit today at a wedding shower for my future daughter in law. Thank you! Making it ahead and letting it mull for a few hours really smoothed it out.
You’re welcome, Elizabeth!
Brandy or cognac? Any particular brand?
I’m making for a wedding cocktail hour. Approx 150 servings.
Hi Kathryn! I used E & J Brandy VSOP for this sangria.
Thank You!
You’re welcome, Gina!
Excited to serve this at Easter brunch tomorrow ☺️
I bet it was a hit!
I made it for a lunchtime BBQ. It was wonderful. I thank you. I
I’ve always wanted to try one, looks good for and outdoor evening of movies in the yard…
A great drink for an outdoor evening! Let me know what you think when you try it, Amber.
Hi
What a great recipe for a great drink
Just wondering if Merlot is ok to use
Steve
It will likely be more dry, but you can use it. Let me know what you think!
For a kick off to summer, I invited a small group of friends over for my first ever cocktail party. With fresh summer fruit from the market, I made this delightfully easy sangria. I added club soda for a refreshing effect. The party and the sangria were a resounding success! Thank you for this delicious recipe!
You’re welcome, Susan!
Every time I make this I get compliments from my friends! Great recipe!
I love that!
What should I say, I didn‘t really try the recipe. Just read the first two lines, then decided I don‘t need to follow any recipe… I ended up adding some sugar to my cut up apples, oranges, strawberries, peaches, and apricots and let the fruit draw juice. Then I poured in a bottle of chilled wine (bought in the Czech Republic where 20$ would buy you a fantastic wine – mine cost like $2.50), let it rest half an hour, and then added a second one.
They loved it! Thanks for the inspiration :)
I’m glad it inspired you, Ben!
This was amazing! Thank you. The title fits. Will be my go to from now on!
Thank you so much for sharing, Laurie!
Thanks for the Sangria recipe. It’s delicious. I made it with a Zin that I had on hand with orange, peach, lemon and mango. I put the brandy in with a splash of Patron Orange Citronge and the maple syrup. I served it over ice and a splash of soda. Great. Thanks again.
You’re welcome, Chet!
This was the best sangria ever. So easy and absolutely delicious!! We were throwing a pig roast and I quadrupled the recipe. Instead of maple syrup I made about three cups of simple syrup. It was perfect. I could have doubled what I made!! Thanks for a great recipe!!
Thank you, Pat! I appreciate you sharing.
This was delicious! Made it for a friend’s birthday party and she loved it. Thanks for the tips on what type of wine to use and why. And the maple syrup was a perfect sweetener! This recipe is a keeper.
What a fun drink for a celebration! Thank you for sharing, Eve.
This receipt is perfect… I especially appreciate your advice about which wine to choose and your explanation as to why … it truly makes a big difference in the the out come of the finished product . I am a big advocate of using maple syrup as a sweetener in just about anything that calls for a sweetener …This receipt is a winner , I am so excited to have finally found a perfect receipt for sangria Thank you !
You’re welcome Diana! Thank you for your review.
This was awesome. I’d only ever had white sangria before today. I used a fruity Spanish wine my friend who works at a liquor store recommended to me. It was a super refreshing drink in the heat wave my city has been having. I sipped it alongside a dinner of the roasted veggie and hummus sandwiches in your cookbook! Perfect cooking dinner! Thanks Kate!
What a great combination, Hayley! Thank you for sharing.
I usually use vodka ice and fruits in the sangria and is lovely the taste.very tasty for the summer.
Thank you for sharing, Lia!
Great sangria. We enjoyed it a lot.
I’m happy to hear that! Thanks for your feedback, David.
Thanks Kate for this delicious recipe. Also thanks very much for the information about low tannin wines. They really are better cold than those with tannin. We had sangria in Spain when visited there and it is very popular in southern Spain near Rota and Puerto de Stanta Maria.
Wonderful to hear, Diane! Thanks for your review.
I’m going to try this recipe for an engagement party I’m having – the brandy sold me! How large are the glasses that you’re filling? I’m looking to fill a drink dispenser that I believe is 1.5 gallons, so I need to enlarge your recipe by quite a bit, I’m assuming! Thanks!
Tried this today! Love it!
I’m happy to hear it!
Refreshing and delicious! Thank you for all of the specific ingredients or I would have had no idea which wine or brandy to use. I made it according to all of your directions and suggestions. I used Torres 5G Garnacha, E&J Brandy VSOP, and besides the lemon and orange, a granny smith apple, blueberries, and blackberries. 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup was just right for me. Thank you for a great recipe!
You’re welcome, Kathy! I’m glad the details were helpful!