1. Sangria is a fairly simple recipe. It's pretty much chop, pour, stir, get drunk, and wake up next to someone you don't know. The real work is in the wine selection and choosing which fruit to use. It is Christmas time so I was craving a cranberry sangria. In fact, I been craving cranberries all month. Did you see my Boozy Cranberries or the Cranberry Grilled Cheese I made?
2. You need to chop up the apples, I prefer them in small cubes so you can easily snack on them while enjoying your sangria, or as I like to call it...dinner. I mean, it has food in it so that counts, right?
3. I try to use good wine for my sangria. I am sure many winemakers would scoff at the suggestion but good wine makes good sangria. Crappy wine makes good sangria too, you just have to add a lot more to it. I prefer to let the wine shine through too. Oh, a little secret...the advantage to using good wine is that you can pour yourself a glass of it while assembling this recipe and it won't suck.
4. In a large pitcher, combine all of the ingredients.
5. Mix it well, so that the sugar fully dissolves.
6. Place the pitcher in the refrigerator to chill. During this time the sugar will fully dissolve and the rosemary will infuse your sangria. If you are wondering why I chose rosemary for this, well, it's because I like my sangria's sweet. But I really dislike the sweetness to linger. So by adding rosemary, it kind of cuts the sweetness down on the finish making it much more enjoyable.
7. While that chills, let's make the garnish for this drink. I am not really into fancy garnish, personally. And this is far from one. But it is a Christmas drink and I figured if the rosemary could look like it was covered in snow, how effing Martha Stewart is that? To do this, simple place about 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Lightly wet the rosemary and then give it a good shake to remove any excess water. Then roll the sprigs in the sugar until they are coated as you please. Gorgeous, right?
8. Once the pitcher has chilled for about an hour, it should be ready to serve. How amazing does this look? I hope you tripled the recipe and please invite me over if you did!
Enjoy!
