Over the 4th of July holiday, I made Sangria for an outdoor party.  This is my favorite cocktail . . . any time of the year!  You don't need a real recipe, you can use affordable (read cheap) wines.  You can even empty the leftover bottles in your fridge (ssshhhh, don't tell anyone I do that please).  And finally, it is a fun, fresh cocktail that EVERYONE likes! Local Bee Kind Winery offers some great fruity, sweet wines.  My favorite is their blueberry wine, but alas it's out of season.  Last week they were offering a Bee Berry Red wine.  It was sweeter than I usually choose for Sangria, but the flavor was bright and ripe and rich so I couldn't resist.  I've been holding a fizzy, hand crafted Plum soda that I found at my local grocery and knew it was meant for this recipe.

As far as I'm concerned, it's Sangria if it has wine and fruit in the glass . . . beyond that, it's up to you!  For a stronger kick, add some flavored vodka or rum.  To sweeten up a dry wine, add some fruit juice.  I usually add either flavored seltzer water or ginger ale to give it some bubble.  For a sweet wine like this one, I use unflavored seltzer water to dilute the sweet flavor a bit and add a dry wine for balance.

Since it was 4th of July, I wanted to play with the red, white and blue theme by using cherries, apples and blueberries.

I cut up the fruit and layer it in the jar.  I used about one and a half cups each of cherries, apples and blueberries.  Add a full bottle of wine, 20 ounces of tonic water/soda/fruit juice and stir gently.

I generally make Sangria the day before I plan to serve it, so the flavor can seep into the fruit.

But I do test it to make sure I've got the right combination of ingredients (wink).

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