I absolutely love sangria. And when I studied in Sevilla, Spain (a VERY long time ago) I learned how to make the perfect sangria. It was the perfect combination of red wine, brandy, fruit and since then, we, of course, have added bubbly to top it off!
I think sangria is the perfect summer drink, it’s refreshing, it’s fruity, and, it’s bubbly! What more could you want.
And you must agree because you asked for more sangria recipes. And we answered, in fact, we shared a new summer sangria recipe every week in July on the Bubbly Side of Life Instagram. If you didn’t catch them there, all you have to do is scroll down and here they are. (But you should probably be following us over there anyway).
Sangria in Spain
Last time I was in Spain, I was in Barcelona, which you know is the cava part of the country, so that, of course, made my bubbly side very happy. I mentioned sangria to one of the winemakers and he kind of chuckled. I asked him what his thoughts were and he simply said, “Sangria is what you make when you have a bad red wine you’re trying to cover up.”
Now, he does bring up a good point and one that I have always shared when making bubbly cocktails. You don’t need to (or want to) use an expensive bottle of wine (or bubbly) when making sangria. If you LOVE that bottle all by itself, then please enjoy it as it is.
Here at Bubbly Side of Life, we are sent stuff to try all the time, and we don’t hesitate if we don’t enjoy the first few sips, we immediately turn it into a bubbly cocktail to see if we can “save” it.
So you will see with our summer sangria recipes, some of the bottles for the base are less than $5 and they make the most delicious sangrias.
Spanish Cava
For these summer sangria recipes, we didn’t always grab a cava to top it off as we usually do since cava is the sparkling wine out of Spain as we were trying to use what we had on hand.
To clarify for those who keep asking…cava is a sparkling wine from Spain that is made using the same traditional method as champagne. Typically made with grapes that are grown in this region of Spain, not necessarily with the 3 grapes of champagne. If you ever get a chance, go take a trip to the Penedès region right outside of Barcelona.
Now one of my most favorites, we sadly can’t get easily here in the states, so here are two of my other favorites that you can easily find at your local grocery store or liquor store.
- Poema Brut Cava
- Freixenet Sparkling Cordon Negro Brut Cava
Summer Sangria Recipes
A typical sangria recipe calls for club soda. So after you have chilled your pitcher, you would pour in about 12 oz of club soda or sparkling water just before serving. Of course, you are more than welcome to do that with our sangria base, but we prefer to pour a nice glass (in a big red wine glass, preferably), add some fruit, of course, and top with a generous pour of bubbly.
And now we officially create all bubbly sangria recipes, but you, of course, can choose either option….we, of course, think bubbly makes these so much better.
For each of these recipes, feel free to screenshot it, or even easier, head over to Bubbly Side of Life on Pinterest and save the recipes there.
Our goal with these summer sangria recipes was to make them easy to create and oh so refreshing. And we’re pretty sure we nailed it.
Let’s start with the favorite of them all…
Watermelon Summer Sangria
This was inspired by the bottle of Love, Olivia watermelon wine at Trader Joe’s. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, Barefoot also makes a watermelon wine that works as well.
TIP: If you’re at Whole Foods, grab a bag of the frozen watermelon chunks to make this preparation even easier.
California Roots
This recipe was inspired by all of you! When I posted a story about this California Roots Sangria from Target, you all asked me to doctor it up and make a sangria and that is just what we did.
Summer Crush
This summer sangria recipe was inspired by the Root 23 Grapefruit Basil Simple Syrup. And if you like basil, it’s a must make!
TIP: We always use simple syrup in our sangria recipes rather than sugar because it’s easier to mix that way.
Bubbly Blueberry Mint
Another sangria recipe using a Root 23 Blueberry Mint Simple Syrup.
Bubbly Pink Grapefruit
And yet another recipe using the Root 23 Grapefruit Basil Simple Syrup. We wanted to create another recipe with this simple syrup that was more grapefruit focused and that is probably my favorite fruit for a drink.
Tell us, what type of sangria would you like us to create next?
Want more?
If you want my most favorite, classic red sangria recipe, check it out right here. This is great with and without the bubbly topper…a recipe I brought back with me from Sevilla, Spain in 1999!
We also created some delicious sangria recipes that are perfect for fall and winter since National Sangria day isn’t until December 20 so we had to make sure we had the whole year covered.
