This recipe is the result of many many hours of experimentation by friends of ours that were looking to create the best Sangria to serve at their backyard wedding. Their scientific and engineering backgrounds, combined with the fact that they are both fabulous cooks, makes it no surprise that I think they found perfection!
Fast forward to the present; as a side project, this couple has started their own little business making jams and jellies – Stow Away Preserves.
The recipe calls for fresh fruit, peaches specifically, and they need to be juicy ripe. Don’t try to make this with hard, unripened peaches. I did once, and the peaches were just annoying hard floating obstacles in my glass, and I missed the taste experience of munching on a piece of ripe peach that had been soaking all night in that delicious mixture. I think I may have tried to substitute with fresh plums once, but that didn’t work out well.
We are fortunate to live close to Idylwilde Farms which gives us access to fresh and ripe fruit and veggies year round. Local (Massachusetts) peach season is July through September; that’s when I try to remember to make this recipe. Hopefully this site will help keep this recipe more on my mind. Hmm, maybe need to add a calendar reminder for peach season?
This recipe makes about 4 cups of Sangria; I recommend 3x’ng it from the get go because it is that good. Also a bottle of wine has 3 cups, so that makes that easy.
Ingredients
- 2 cups red wine
- ¼ cup cointreau
- ¼ cup lemonade
- ¼ cup cranberry-apple juice
- ¼ cup strawberry-orange juice
- Juice of ½ of one lime
- Diced peach and ½ an orange (rind removed)
Directions
- Mix all together, leave in fridge overnight (or longer) – it really is better if you let it sit overnight; the juices from the fresh peaches and orange blend in and add a stronger fruity punch.
- If you forget to plan ahead, you can proceed to next step after chilling the above mixture in the fridge for a few hours
- Before serving, mix 3:1 (or 2:1 if you like it less strong) with Fresca
If you are making it ‘virgin’, replace the wine with straight cranberry, or something else that is NOT sweet.