All summer, the BF and I have searched for the perfect patio furniture. I had this vision of us sharing meals, having cocktails and sitting under the stars on our deck. Very romantic. 

We finally found the perfect set and the BF even bought cute little outdoor lights! But there was still something missing….Sangria!!!!

As a fun surprise, the BF bought a super fab sangria pitcher and glasses!!

We’ve experimented with two fruit combos so far - peach raspberry and apple, pear strawberry.

Both of us prefer red wine, so we use cheap bottles of Cabernet ($6-$7). But both of those flavor combos would work well with white wine.

We also use fruit nectar to give the sangria a little sweetness. We’ve had trouble finding nectar without high fructose corn syrup, which is annoying. Next time I’m out of town and can hit up a Trader Joe’s, I’ll look for some. For the peach raspberry sangria, we used peach nectar and for the apple, pear strawberry sangria, we used pear nectar.

I think the fruit nectar adds enough sweetness, but you can add simple syrup to the mix if you like your sangria sweeter.

The fruit combos you can use are endless - peach blackberry, mixed berries, citrus fruits, mango berry, mango peach, etc.

To make a fall sangria, use apples and/or pears and add cinnamon and nutmeg.

(The best part of sangria is eating the booze-soaked fruit!!)

Sangria

1 bottle wine

4 oz. blackberry brandy

fruit nectar (11.5 oz. can)

fruit, sliced

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate overnight or for a few hours. (Sangria is best when refrigerated overnight.)