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The best wine for sangria is a cheap, dry, fruity Spanish red. Garnacha or a young Tempranillo, somewhere between $10 and $20, will beat anything fancier. Save the good bottle for a glass on its own.
Sangria is a mixed drink, not a tasting. The orange, the sugar and the splash of brandy do most of the talking. Your wine only has to bring fruit and then get out of the way.
Table of Contents
What Makes a Good Sangria Wine
- Dry, not sweet. You are adding sugar and fruit already. Start sweet and you finish with cordial.
- Fruity and simple. Red berries, cherry, plum. Subtlety is wasted here.
- Low tannin. Tannin turns chalky and bitter once the drink is cold and full of citrus.
- Little or no oak. Vanilla and smoke fight the orange instead of helping it.
- 12% to 13.5% alcohol. Sangria already gets a brandy top-up. It does not need help.
- Cheap. $10 to $20 is the sweet spot, and it is not a compromise.
Best Red Wines for Sangria
Spain invented the drink, so Spanish grapes are the natural starting point. These six all work, and the first two are the classics.
| Grape | What it tastes like | Why it works in sangria |
|---|---|---|
| Garnacha (Grenache) | Strawberry, raspberry, soft and juicy | Fruity, low in tannin and cheap. If you only remember one name, make it this one. |
| Tempranillo (joven or crianza) | Cherry, plum, a little leather | Dry without being harsh, so the fruit you add gets to shine. |
| Monastrell (Mourvèdre) | Blackberry, herbs, more grip | Good for a bolder winter sangria. Go easy, the tannin is real. |
| Bobal | Dark fruit, fresh acid | Valencia’s workhorse. Cheap, bright and made for this job. |
| Merlot | Plum, soft and round | Not Spanish, but soft and fruity is exactly the brief. |
| Australian Grenache blend | Red berries, a little spice | Local, easy to find and often better value than the imports. |
If you want the longer story on the two big names, read our Grenache guide and the Tempranillo guide.
Best White Wines for Sangria
White sangria, or sangria blanca, is lighter and works better with peach, apple and mint than with orange. The rules are the same: dry, fruity, no oak.
- Verdejo: the Spanish choice. Fresh, faintly herbal, cheap.
- Pinot Grigio: the easiest one to find in any Australian bottle shop. Neutral and clean, which is a compliment here. See the Pinot Grigio guide.
- Macabeo or Airén: plain Spanish whites that cost almost nothing and do the job.
- Dry Riesling: the acid keeps everything crisp, though it is a shame to hide it.
- Ripe Sauvignon Blanc: fine if it is tropical rather than grassy.
Best Cheap Wine for Sangria
Under $15 is not a sacrifice, it is the point. Look for a recent vintage, a screw cap and the word joven or tinto on a Spanish label, which both signal young and unoaked. Cask wine works too if the grape is right, and nobody at the party will ever know.
What you are avoiding is oak and age, not price. A $12 Garnacha makes better sangria than a $60 Rioja, and you get to keep $48.
Wines to Skip
- Aged Rioja Gran Reserva. Years of oak and bottle age, drowned in lemonade. It is a waste and it tastes worse.
- Big oaky Shiraz or Cabernet. Tannin plus cold plus citrus equals a drink that dries your mouth out.
- Moscato and sweet reds. The recipe already has sugar.
- Anything over 14.5% alcohol. Sangria goes down easily enough as it is.
- Wine you would not drink on its own. Cheap is fine, faulty is not. Fruit hides a lot, but it does not hide vinegar.
A Sangria That Actually Works
One bottle, one jug, about six glasses. Make it at least four hours ahead so the fruit has time to give something back.
- 1 bottle dry Spanish red, chilled
- 1 orange, sliced thinly
- 1 apple, diced
- 60 ml brandy
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar, or to taste
- 250 ml chilled soda water, added at the end
- Ice, in the glass rather than the jug
- Put the fruit and sugar in the jug and press it gently with a spoon until the juice runs.
- Add the brandy and stir until the sugar disappears.
- Pour in the wine, cover and chill for four hours or overnight.
- Top with soda water just before serving, then pour over ice.
On strength: that jug holds roughly 9.4 standard drinks, since a bottle of 13% wine is about 7.7 and 60 ml of brandy adds another 1.7. Split six ways it is about 1.6 standard drinks a glass, and more if someone keeps topping up. Australian guidance is a maximum of 10 standard drinks a week and 4 on any one day, per the Department of Health standard drinks guide. Our calorie calculator will do the sums for your own recipe.
The Bottle to Build It On
Casa Lluch Spanish Organic Tempranillo 2022
A young Valencian Tempranillo is the sangria brief on paper: dry, fruity and unoaked. Chill it, cut up an orange and you are ten minutes from a jug.
- Spanish, organic and made for easy drinking
- Fresh acid and bright cherry fruit, with no oak in the way
- From Sierra de Enguera in Valencia, so it has a real address
- Under $20, which is exactly where sangria money belongs
- It is good enough that you may finish half the bottle before the fruit has soaked
Is It Really Sangria?
Here is a fact for the next barbecue. Under EU Regulation 251/2014, only drinks made in Spain or Portugal may be sold as sangria. Everything else has to be labelled an aromatised wine-based drink, with the country of production shown if the word appears at all. Your homemade jug in Adelaide is legally something else. It still tastes the same.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best wine for sangria?
A dry, fruity, unoaked Spanish red. Garnacha first, then a young Tempranillo. Both are cheap, low in tannin and full of the red fruit that sangria needs.
What is the best cheap wine for sangria?
Anything dry and fruity between $10 and $15. Look for a recent vintage and the word joven on a Spanish label, which means young and unoaked.
What is the best dry white wine for sangria?
Verdejo if you can find it, Pinot Grigio if you cannot. Both are clean and neutral, so the peach and mint in white sangria come through.
Can I use Pinot Grigio for sangria?
Yes, and it is the easiest choice in most Australian bottle shops. Pick a plain, dry one rather than an expensive Alsace style.
Does the wine have to be Spanish?
No. Spanish grapes suit the drink best, but an Australian Grenache or a soft Merlot does the same work for the same money.
How strong is a glass of sangria?
About 1.6 standard drinks in a normal pour, once you count the brandy. It tastes like fruit juice, which is the whole problem.
If your drinks cupboard also holds a half-finished bottle of vermouth, our guide to whether you can freeze vermouth explains how long it really lasts once the seal is broken.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It keeps the wine flowing and the reviews honest.
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