Our Red, White, and Blue White Wine Sangria is the perfect festive drink for all of your summer get-togethers! And the best part? This drink is great to make in advance, so you won’t have to play bartender all night.
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It’s officially pitcher cocktail season! That’s a thing right? Frosty pitchers of make-ahead cocktails really lend themselves well to the warm summer months. They are the perfect accompaniment to BBQs, trips to the beach, or laying by the pool. And the queen of the pitcher cocktail has got to be fruity, boozy, delicious sangria.
We love sangria made with all kinds of fruit flavors, from Pineapple to Sparkling Peach, and Frozen White Citrus Sangria. But we made this red, white & blue sangria especially for the big summer holidays. Thanks to strawberries, apples, and blueberries, this American flag-inspired cocktail is perfect for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, or other summer get-togethers.
Best yet: the recipe makes a dozen drinks and you mix it up the night before — which means you can enjoy your own party instead of playing bartender!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This berry sangria is the perfect 4th of July cocktail or Memorial Day drink
- Flexible recipe lets you swap in different types of fruit, wine, juice, and spirits
- Make-ahead recipe yields 12 servings, so you don’t have to bartend at your own party!
White Wine Sangria Recipe Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make a big batch of this crowd-pleasing cocktail. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Riesling – a bottle of this white wine is the base of this recipe. Choose a sweet or dry wine depending on your taste.
- Strawberries – these summer berries are the “red” in this red, white & blue recipe!
- Apples – freshly-sliced apples are the “white.”
- Blueberries – how’d you guess? These berries are the “blue” in this patriotic cocktail!
- Lime – the juice of one lime goes into the mix
- Lemon – freshly squeeze a lemon for extra citrus punch
- Orange juice – you’ll need ½ cup of OJ
- Brandy, rum, or vodka – ½ cup of the spirit of your choosing brings all the flavors together
- Sparkling water – a cup of sparkling water adds effervescence
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
One of the best things about sangria (other than how delicious it tastes) is how flexible it is! Here are some ways you can tailor this recipe to your liking:
- Wine – we used a bottle of off-dry riesling for this sangria, but go for whatever type of white wine you like best. Pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, vinho verde, albariño, or verdejo would all be excellent choices too.
- Fruit – likewise, the sky’s the limit when it comes to what fruit you use here. It’s almost easier to think of what types of fruit wouldn’t be great in sangria (bananas?) that what does work. Any kind of berries, sliced or segmented citrus, stone fruits like peaches and plums, kiwis, pineapple, cherries, and grapes would all be delicious!
- Spirits – If you’re not sure what type of spirit or liquor to use in this fresh fruit sangria, go with the spirit you like best in cocktails. Brandy will add concentrated sweetness, rum will add vanilla notes, and vodka will be neutral.
How to Make White Wine Sangria
Making white sangria is truly SO easy. The real key to a great sangria is to let it sit for a while for the flavors to meld. When the sangria sits for a while, it pulls the juices out of the fruit (and the fruit absorbs the flavors of the wine and spirits), which is what truly turns it into a delicious drink. To make white sangria, you just need to follow a few simple steps:
Step 1: First things first, you’ll cut up all of the fruit, and put it in a pitcher.
Step 2: Next, you’ll pour the wine over the fruit, along with the juice and brandy (or other preferred liquor).
Step 3: Now all you have to do is refrigerate the sangria before serving it. We prefer overnight for maximum flavor, but if you’ve only got a few hours to chill it that will work, too! Once you’re ready to serve, pour it over ice and top it with sparkling water and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Make-ahead – since this recipe calls for three kinds of citrus juice, you don’t have to worry about the cut apples browning as it sits overnight. This allows all of the flavors to meld. But you want to wait until you’re ready to serve before adding the sparkling water so it doesn’t lose its effervescence.
- Garnish – with its blend of berries, apples, and juices, this fruity sangria is beautiful and colorful on its own. But if you’d like to “gild the lily,” garnish it with extra strawberries or sprigs of bright green mint.
How to Serve
Serve this sangria cold, straight from the fridge, or over ice.
How to Store
If you end up with extra sangria, cover the pitcher with plastic wrap or foil and enjoy it within a day or two, while the fruit is still fresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditionally, sangria is made by combining wine (red, white, or rosé), fresh fresh, a liquor like brandy, and sometimes a sweetener.
After testing many options, our wine of choice for most white sangrias is an off-dry (aka slightly sweet) riesling. We find that the wine brings just enough sweetness to the sangria that you don’t need to add additional sweetener. However, if you like a less-sweet cocktail, or want to control the sugar content yourself, you can use a dry pinot grigio. If you tend toward the sweeter end of the spectrum, we say go for a moscato. This sangria would also be fantastic with prosecco!
You can really use any seasonal fruit in a white sangria with good results, but here we wanted to do a play on red, white, and blue for the upcoming Memorial Day and 4th of July holidays. We chose strawberries, blueberries, and apples for this purpose. If you’re feeling particularly festive, you can cut the apples up using these star cookie cutters! Citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, or limes would also be great in this sangria, as well as raspberries, blackberries, or sliced kiwi.
More of Our Best Summer Drink Recipes
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Red, White, and Blue Sangria
Ingredients
- 1 bottle riesling
- 1 pint blueberries
- 1 cup strawberries, quartered
- 2 apples, sliced or cut into star shapes
- Juice of one lime
- Juice of one lemon
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup brandy, rum, or vodka
- 1 cup sparkling water
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients other than sparkling water in a pitcher and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight, to let the flavors meld. Once you are ready to serve, stir in the sparkling water and enjoy!
Nutrition
Wonderful recipe for the 4th of July- it was a big hit! Also, we ate the wine soaked fruit with flourless chocolate cake and ice cream for an UBER decadent dessert 🙂
Oh my gosh that dessert sounds INCREDIBLE! What an awesome idea.