Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, May-June 1998. I use red wine or white wine or rosé with this recipe. It produces delicious sangria every time. Sangria is forgiving–you can substitute a lime for the lemon. You can substitute another liqueur for the Triple Sec–I recently used elderflower liqueur with excellent results. For sangria made with white wine, you could add a peach slice or two into each glass before serving.
I must add a recommendation here for Julia Reed’s book But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria! It’s fabulous reading and contains lots of recipes you will want to try. You will laugh out loud, at least I laughed out loud. You could certainly put vodka in this sangria too, but I am not responsible for the results.
Make sangria early in the day you plan to serve it. It benefits from sitting at least two hours before drinking. Doubling or tripling the recipe is fine, but you’ll have to switch to a larger container in place of the pitcher. That punch bowl you got as a wedding present would work perfectly.
2 large oranges, washed; one orange sliced; remaining orange juiced
1 large lemon or lime, washed and sliced
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup Triple Sec
750 ml bottle inexpensive, fruity medium-bodied red wine, chilled (or white wine or rosé)
Add sliced orange and lemon and sugar to large pitcher; mash gently with wooden spoon until fruit releases some juice, but is not totally crushed, and sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Stir in orange juice, Triple Sec, and wine; refrigerate for at least 2, and up to 24, hours.
Before serving, add 6 to 8 ice cubes and stir briskly.