Well, the experimenting with the sangria-ish recipes has had its ups and downs over this week. I didn’t post last week, like I should have, but here’s the run down of what’s happened:
Test Batch 1

Not every batch is a success.
So, I felt like I should experiment using kiwi. I grabbed a random bottle of white wine, fruit, and set to work. Except, to my chagrin, I had grabbed a bottle of dry white wine. You know what doesn’t help an experimental sangria? A dry wine.
The fruit I used in this was primarily apple, kiwi … and then I hit mistake No. 2: I added lemon.
Now, this wasn’t exactly horrible — it was definitely drinkable, but just not really … you know … good. But as always, I took mental notes, and here’s my observations:
- Get a sweet wine for the base. Sounds like a no-brainer, but for a non-wine knowledgeable guy like me, write it down and remember it.
- Kiwi sinks to the bottom. I think it’s trying to find its way home to New Zealand.
- Lemon overpowers the taste of everything else, so if you add lemon, a little goes a long way.
Test Batch 2

I failed to take pictures of the sangria, so here's the awesome wings we had.
My friend @Pantster was having a BBQ for his girlfriend, and asked if I would make some sangria for it. Done and done! I made 2 different kinds: One that I call “Dreamy” and the other was “Lemonade.”
Dreamy:
Dreamy was a refined batch from the first batch of sangria I made. Here’s what I did:
- Peeled/juiced 2.5 oranges. The other .5, I basically cut into small pieces for fruit in the mix.
- Peeled/juiced half a lemon, half a lime.
- Cut up 1 apple into tiny pieces, juiced another apple.
- Cut up about a quarter of a honeydew. I juiced the shell, cause hey, why not?
- Wine choice was a Yellowtail Rose, with a added splash of Yellowtail Riesling.
- Added ice and half a liter of club soda before serving.
I let it all sit overnight. Let me tell you, it smelled great. It went over well at the BBQ.
Observations:
- I added water to it while I let it sit overnight. This was a mistake, as after I added the club soda and ice, it washed out the taste. Still good, but not as punchy as it should have been.
- Next time, adding more wine, and probably some cherries.
- Going to marinate half the apple chunks in wine first, then add freshly cut apples 2 hrs or so before serving to give a crisper, cleaner taste.

How can you refuse the Presidente? (What I was drinking after the sangria was gone.)
Lemonade:
I’ve been toying with this idea for a little while. When I use the juicer to make lemonade, it’s just apple, lemon and water. I applied that basic principle to this sangria.
- I used a 1 lemon: 2 apple ratio for the juicer. This particular batch was 1.5 juiced lemons, and 3 juiced apples.
- I diced up the remaining lemon, and another whole apple.
- I threw in about 1.25L of Yellowtail Riesling.
- I cut up about 1/4 of a honeydew, added the fruit, juiced the shell.
- About 5-6 hours before serving, I cut up and added 4 large strawberries.
- Added 1/2 liter of club soda and ice before serving.
Now, personally, I didn’t like this batch. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great in my mind. I thought the lemon wasn’t pronounced enough of a taste, and the strawberries quickly overwhelmed it. However, the folks at the BBQ dug it — some saying they preferred it over Dreamy.
Observations:
- Cutting up the lemon was a mistake. While people love eating the apple, biting in to the random lemon was a bit much for some.
- Next time, I may do a 1:1 lemon/apple, and then juice 1 or 2 more apple for more of a lemon punch.
- I’ll add the same amount of strawberries, but I’ll add them around 2 hours before serving.
- Again, next time I won’t add water to it.
- This one was made about 8 hrs prior to the BBQ — I may make the next batch like 4 hrs before the gathering.
(NOTE: When I say “juiced,” this means I’m actually using my handy-dandy fruit/vege juicer. Also, all apples are “Red Delicious” apples. I may try a Granny Smith in the mix soon.)