Winter Sangria

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This spiced winter sangria is made with a mulled cranberry syrup, cinnamon and cloves, freshly squeezed orange juice, triple sec, and red wine.

In a blogging world of mostly desserts, let’s be a holiday sangria, yes?

Since I’ve been blogging for nearly 7 years now, there are a lot of recipes that exist on my blog that I like to revisit for updates, fresh photos, and just recirculating for my readers.

Back in 2014, during my first year of blogging, I threw together this “mulled cranberry sangria” that I learned later wasn’t actually even considered a sangria (I’ll get to that), and since I really and truly love revisiting old content, this one was on my to do list for right around the winter holidays.

The week I went to make this winter sangria recipe, I polled a lot of you on Instagram, asking which red wine I should use for it, and so many of you weighed in with your very specific sangria opinions… Which I loved!

I didn’t know there was so much to know about sangria, and quite honestly, I found a whole new appreciation for red wine last week, given that I wound up making 3 (yes, 3) batches of this festive sangria for us, neighbors, and friends (I can never have too many taste testers!).

I found that each batch of this easy winter sangria tasted just a touch different, based on the wine that I used.

And I couldn’t even tell you one was better than the other, I just know that YOU NEED THIS holiday sangria recipe, and I bet any of the other 7 taste testers would agree with you.

This new and improved recipe is one I’m quite proud of, and I’m certain you’re going to love having it in your glass this holiday season!

Winter sangria, then, is all of those things, just, well, wintry.

While we’re keeping in tradition here with red wine, we’re doing wintry fruit like cranberries and oranges.

As for the brandy, I chose to complement the orange flavor here with triple sec instead, and while I didn’t personally add anything bubbly to my sangria, there’s certainly room to do so.

Because cranberries are so tart, I started things off with a mulled cranberry syrup.

My mom used to make a big batch of mulled wine for her annual holiday party, and I remember it smelling so good and I wanted to taste it so badly, but I was very underage for many of her parties.

Since this sangria has a mulled component to it, I chose to start out my sangria the same way I start out my homemade mulled cranberry sauce: water, sugar, cranberries, cinnamon, and cloves.

All of this gets heated on the stove, brought to a boil, and then immediately turned down to a simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, you’ll find your home smells aaaamazing and that your cranberries are nice and macerated.

After this mixture cools down, you’ll strain it through a mesh sieve and you’re left with 1 cup of spicy, sweet liquid to add to your sangria (though don’t discount this syrup– feel free to make some as a standalone addition to winter cocktails!).

AND DON’T GET RID OF THE CHUNKS OF CRANBERRIES.

Just like that, you’ve made spiced cranberry chutney, which is another fancy term (what’s with fancy terms anyway, huh??) for a cooked fruit/sugar/spices/often vinegar condiment typically used in Indian food.

We’ll talk about what to do with your chutney in a bit.

Back to the sangria.

Some muddled oranges go into the bottom of your sangria pitcher, followed by some freshly squeezed orange juice, the spiced cranberry syrup, the triple sec, and then your red wine of choice.

Add some additional roughly chopped cranberries to the mix, stir it all up, and then… WAIT.

Wait at least 4 hours, but ideally, let this stuff marry and chill for at least 12 hours, and if you can bear it, 24 hours.

When you’re ready to serve it, add some club soda or other bubbly liquid, and you’re off to the races!

OR… Leave out the bubbly, warm it up, and enjoy it in a mug. Don’t forget the cozy blanket.

You’re going to love this spiciness in your holiday sangria!

Although the cranberries are sweetened up, their inherent tartness is definitely not lost. The cinnamon and cloves marry so nicely with each other to add just the right amount of seasonal flavor to every glass.

The complements of the orange give just the right amount of zest and add that warm winter citrus we love to mix with cranberry. It’s totally the perfect recipe for Christmas sangria, if you ask me.

Cranberries, oranges, cinnamon, cloves, and wine… It doesn’t get much more holiday-y than this, folks.

Let’s get to it. Bottoms up!