[José Elarba] Know the Best Wines for a Perfect Sangria

Mixing Food and Wines: How to Choose The Right Wine for Sangria

Today, we start with the first edition of our series “Wines & Food”, this time dedicated to the Spanish culinary treasure: sangria. Before you get deep into the topic of wines for sangria, you should keep in mind that you don’t need super expensive bottles of wines to make some delicious sangria. Remember that as long as the wine you pick is fruity, inexpensive and tastes good on its own, your final beverage will end up incredible. Today, we start with the first edition of our series “Wines & Food”, this time dedicated to the Spanish culinary treasure: sangria. Let’s start… Talking about inexpensive wines for sangria does not mean you will go and buy wine in a can, no, what you need to do is choosing one that, even though it’s cheap, it offers fruit tastes and it’s nice to your palate.    Now, see our suggestions… For red wines: When making your red sangria, you should look for something that is fruity with low tannins. And remember that this Spanish invention deserves some respect, so, you better choose a Spanish red wine. That’s a good way to start. We recommend you to pick wines from Garnacha, which have lots of ripe cherry flavors. Other ones from Monastrell have darker fruit flavors and black peppery notes and will be perfect for your objective. Finally, some inexpensive Tempranillos are herbier and spicier, which make it perfect for a delicious sangria. For white wines:  White wines do not usually make you contend with tannins, for this reason, most of them are a good option for sangria. We suggest avoiding those wines with lots of oak to get a fresh drink. A good option this time is to choose a bright, high-acid white wine such as Vinho Verde from Portugal or a German dry Riesling in case you are using garnishes like cucumbers, some herbs, lemons, etc. Of course, in case you feel a little tropical, go for a white wine that is lusher, like Viognier or Pinot Gris. For rosé... Finally, choose a more fruit-forward pink wine from California or Spain, where rosé is known as rosado. Everything will work well with some of them in your sangrias.

- José Elarba