"There are 35 million people in Spain and probably half of them have their own personal Sangria recipes. Here's mine. As with all art, this is a work in progress.
9 750ml Spanish Rioja-area (preferably tempranillo) red wine
½ 750 ml dark rum
½ 750 ml vodka
3- 2 l. 7-Up
2 or 3 thinly-sliced limes
2 or 3 thinly-sliced lemons
3 or 4 thinly-sliced plums
Hold onto the last lemon, lime, and 2 of the plums until you can adjust the taste.
We mix it in one of those big 5-6 gallon water jugs then night before serving, and add 4-5 of the blue can-be-refrozen-almost-like-a-block-of-ice thingys. Change out the blocks as they warm up - this stuff gets better as it gets colder.
Start tasting it after the flavors have melded for about 4 hours - it won't be good before then.
We serve it from a Spanish sangria pitcher into glasses with little ice, so the flavors don't get diluted with melted water. Decorative sangria pitchers are available ftom The Spanish Table in Seattle, Berkeley, and Santa Fe - http://www.tablespan.com - and/or La Tienda - http://www.tienda.com - in Williamsburg, VA., and have a pinched pouring lip to keep the fruit in the jug and out of your glass.
If you can find a 100% tempranillo wine, it gives a unique taste, but may not be available in all areas. Friends are beginning to grow tempranillo grapes in Lodi, but it's pricey. Torres' Sangre de Toro is a good substitute and is available nationally at wine shops.
Life is too short to drink cheap wine!
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