Homemade Sangria with fruit. 

Homemade Sangria with fruit. 
© Shutterstock

How to Make the Tastiest Summer Punches & Sangria

Take wine, add ripe summer fruit, zesty citrus and a bit of fizz and you have a perfect summer drink. Here is Falstaff’s manifesto for the best summer punches.

Northern cultures still seem to have a hang up about adding water or juice to wine, having perhaps a little too much respect for that precious, fermented grape juice. There still is a feeling that wine should be revered, taken seriously, not be messed with. Southern cultures, on the other hand, have always known that summer heat demands dilution – and fruity enhancement. After all, thirst needs slaking and souls and bodies in balmy climes need refreshment and hydration. What better way to achieve this than by mixing wine with all the luscious fruits of summer, colourful and bursting with flavour, at the peak of their ripeness. It is putting two and two together and getting ten.

What wine? 

Of course we are not suggesting that you use prized bottles from single vineyards – these do indeed demand our full attention and should never be mixed. No, what is called for here is lighter wine, wine that does not cost the earth and that is fruity itself, be it white, red, rosé or sparkling. The wines used for mixing should also be unoaked – in clean-fresh, fruit-driven styles and from a very recent vintage. These are in plentiful supply and vivid Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Grigios, zippy Rieslings, slender Gavis and Soaves all fit the bill for whites. Most reds will be fine, too, so long as they are unoaked – and for fizz the pre-eminent candidate is Prosecco – but other sparkling wines will shine here, too, especially the entry-level ranges of Cava, new world sparkling wines, French Crémants or even Champagne.

What fruit?

This is very simple: the ripest, most expressive fruit will shine here. This is the place to make most of that glut of peaches that drip with juiciness, or those slightly misshapen but exquisitely fragrant strawberries. Look for the ripest, most aromatic and juiciest fruits and berries. Citrus fruit should be unwaxed – while unwaxed lemon is widely available, other citrus fruits are usually sold waxed – but a little scrub with the rough end of a scouring pad will do away with that and immediately show the fragrance of the aromatic peel. Accents can be set with herbs: lemon balm and mint are the stars here but thyme can also work surprisingly well in the right combination.

Sangria & Co

The easiest and most well-known summer wine punch of course is Sangria: that easy blend of red wine, lemonade and fresh fruit. The beauty of mixing this yourself is that you get to decide the sweetness of the mix – and you get to decide whether your Sangria is red, white or rosé. There are recipes that use sparkling water and caster sugar instead of lemonade – and this is a good way to go and play. Taste your wine on its own, then add your chosen fruit, then dilute with sparkling water and see if it needs a little sweetening: depending on the sweetness and ripeness of the fruit, you may find that you do not need any sugar at all, or just a little.

An alternative is to add a little orange juice for added sweetness. But do not be wedded to the traditional fruit mix of oranges, apples and strawberries, classic as it may be. Try a combo of red wine, sparkling water with juicy, ripe, halved cherries, chopped strawberries and raspberries for a red, summery, berry-ish dream. Or use a rosé wine, sparkling water, strawberries and raspberries and add luminous red highlights with juicy pomegranate seeds.

White wine offers the possibility of going wither tropical or zesty: super-ripe sweet pineapple and a juicy mango may transport you to different latitudes, while lime, lemon, kiwi and lemon balm will be an ideal thirst-quencher for an afternoon summer party. A version of white wine, kiwi, grapes and lemon is also super-fresh. And cucumber also may come in handy here. So do play with wine colour and fruit combinations – this is the place for creativity and experimentation. Yellow peach and orange with light red wine, sparkling water and some peach juice is a personal fave.

Adding punch

The joy of these easy Sangrias is that they are light and fruity – if your aim is more intoxication, spirits can deliver the desired oomph. Vodka delivers a fairly neutral kick to almost everything while fruit-flavoured liqueurs enhance the fruity side of things: enter raspberry-flavoured Chambord or orange-scented Cointreau. Southern Comfort seems to enhance tropical fruit immensely – and works especially well with pineapple. But note: these liqueurs are also very sweet, so care needs to be taken to keep a balance.

Fizzing it

While you can also use sparkling wine for all the above ideas, sparkling wine itself offers different possibilities to still wine. Its effervescence and acidity work a kind of magic for juices and puréed fruit. Two enduring and classic examples of this are the famous Bellini: ripest white peach purée with Prosecco and the slightly dated but still popular Mimosa: Champagne with orange juice. The latter can be a bitter disappointment when made with sub-standard sparkling wine and juice from concentrate – but use a good, brut fizz and add freshly squeezed juice of ripe Valencia or even of blood oranges and you have a smart, delicious and most refreshing drink. Taking a cue from the Bellini, this is the place to celebrate fruit and put your blender to use: chop strawberries and puree them, then add to Prosecco – this is also delicious with blueberry, watermelon or really ripe plums or whatever else takes your fancy. Prosecco already has quite some sweetness, so most of the time it is not necessary to add any sugar.

Two local fizz faves

A more potent Spanish classic of the fizz and fruit combo is Agua de Valencia: this is orange juice, Cava, gin and vodka. And trust the Italians to come up with a most decadent drink – at home in the Veneto: Sgroppino. Take a blender, finest lemon ice cream (although some insist on lemon sorbet – but ice cream makes everything creamier) and a splash of vodka. Once this mix is creamy and fluid, blend it with a bottle of Prosecco, garnish with a lemon slice and serve. This beats any popsicle for adults during a heatwave.

Serving it

A large glass pitcher is ideal, as it can be bedded in a larger bowl of shaved ice. Punch bowls are simply fabulous to look at and also make a great social focal point at a party. The glassware should be chilled before being filled with the cold ingredients and ideally it should sit on a bed of crushed ice. Another idea is to decant the mix into tumblers or long drink glasses before the guests arrive and to chill an entire tray of drinks in the fridge to serve as everyone arrives. But what if there are just two or four of you? No matter – half a bottle of wine, a handful of gloriously ripe fruit and a sprig of mint and some fizzy water will give you that summer punch feeling – and this is also the place to try out new fruit and wine combinations. There is no need for recipes here – your own taste, the ingredients to hand and in season are key – as is your creativity. Enjoy.

Anne Krebiehl MW
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