Berry-Herb Sangria

Chef notes

There are so many ways to make a pitcher of sangria. Some recipes tend to overcomplicate the matter. If you’re looking for a twist on classic sangria that keeps things simple, you’ve come to the right spot. This red wine sangria stays pretty true to a traditional recipe but adds fresh herbs and berries to the mix for a seasonal summer sipper. The berries — fresh blackberries and strawberries, to be exact — are a sweet and juicy complement to the red wine, white fresh rosemary  balances the sweetness with its herbaceous, earthy flavor. This is a simple spin on sangria that’s as fruity and festive as you could hope for.

A full-bodied, dry red wine is the best choice for this recipe. We like shiraz or malbec but cabernet sauvignon or merlot are also good choices. To the wine, you’ll add crème de cassis, which is a sweet dark red French liqueur made from blackcurrants. It’s a wonderful liqueur to keep on your bar cart long after you finish drinking this sangria. Not only does it lend a jammy, dark-berry flavor to this sangria, it’s most traditionally used to make a kir royale, a classic French cocktail of crème de cassis and Champagne, and a kir, which combines crème de cassis with dry white wine. If, however, you’re still not convinced, you can use mixed berry juice in its place here.

You’ll also need to make simple syrup to sweeten the sangria. It’s as easy as simmering sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves to create a thickened syrup. Feel free to make the syrup days or even weeks in advance and store it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Get Ingredients: If you don’t have everything you need on hand, you can easily purchase all of the ingredients (just click the orange button below that says ‘Get Ingredients’). You can pick and choose exactly what ingredients you need based on what’s in your pantry and they’ll be on your doorstep before you know it.