The Easiest Sangria Recipe To Make This Summer

We’re breaking down how to make the best kind of fruit salad there is: sangria. We’ll cover the best wines and fruits to build your perfect white sangria this summer.

There’s only one right way to make fruit salad: with wine.

We’re talking about sangria, of course, the deliciously summery batch cocktail made with fruit, wine, cordials, liqueurs and mixers like soda and juice.

Unlike cocktails that require precise measurements (think the Old Fashioned or the Manhattan), sangria works best as a tasty medley of all your favorite fruits, wines, spirits and mixers. If you have a few half-full containers of berries the fam didn’t put over their morning cereal, a bottle of wine, a couple cans of soda and a bottle of any cordial you like on your bar cart (Chambord, Cointreau, St-Germain, etc.), then you’ve got yourself everything you need for a wicked pitcher of sangria.

This beloved batch cocktail has many potential origin stories, but it most likely began because early Greek and Roman laborers would mix their wine with sugar, spices, fruit and whatever else was on-hand. The water was bacteria-riddled and unsafe to drink, so mixing it with a touch of wine made it drinkable. Everything else was a bonus to add flavor.¹

Sangria is derived from the Spanish word sangre, or blood, referencing red wine’s dark hue. But sangria can be made with nearly any type of wine, from white to red to rosé to sparkling wine. White sangrias are especially suited to serve at summer pool parties and backyard barbecues.

When making a white sangria, steer clear of richer, more complex varietals like chardonnay. Instead, opt for crisp, fruit-forward varietals like sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio or even riesling. The acidity in the wine will play nicely with the acidity of the fruit, making for a refreshing glass of sangria.

The sky is the limit when it comes to what fruits to add to a sangria, but for a white sangria specifically, go for fruits that are fresh, crisp and clean. Think lemons, limes, green apples, berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.), oranges and pears.

As with any sangria, make sure you ladle a healthy amount of fruit into each glass (for both taste and aesthetics) and only add carbonated mixers to the top of each glass. If you pour bubbly mixers into the pitcher or punch bowl with everything else, it’ll be flat by the time you and your guests enjoy it.

The joy of sangria-mixing is that you can toss basically whatever you want in it, but keep scrolling for our top white sangria recipe to make this summer.