Fall Apple Sangria

This beautiful fall cocktail will be perfect for all the fall holidays and gatherings. A combination of red wine, sweet apples, brandy, cinnamon, and cloves makes this the best seasonal cocktail. I highly recommend that you prepare it ahead of time. When sangria stands overnight, all the flavors get a chance to marinade together for the best taste. 

APPLE SANGRIA

Sangria is a wonderful cocktail made with wine, fruit, liquor, and a splash of soda. This is a perfect cocktail for any occasion because it’s so easy to change flavors. White wine makes a light, crisp, and refreshing sangria that’s great for warmer weather. Red wine sangria is full-bodied, rich, deep, and tastes great with additional spices. Red sangria is really good to serve any time of the year but it’s especially good in the fall. 

For the best fall flavors, I take out any citrus and just focus on the apples and spices. Spices are very important because you want to infuse wine and apples with the same spice that are so familiar in the fall. Cinnamon and cloves are my go-to spices for hot and cold fall cocktails. Make sure to use cinnamon stick and whole cloves, not the ground spices. It’s also best to tie cloves into a little mesh pouch, like cheese cloth, or use a tea infuser.

Depending on all the wine and fruit in the sangria, liquors change as well. The best liquors for sangria are rum, brandy, bourbon, and vodka. For fall and winter red wine sangria, my go-to liquor is either bourbon or rum. Bourbon is better for spicier, deeper flavor, and rum is better for fruitier, slightly sweeter flavor.

Also note that bourbon is not gluten free. So if you wish to keep sangria gluten free, use rum. 

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WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN APPLE SANGRIA

Red wine – choose full bodied and somewhat fruity red whines but not sweet ones. I recommend Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, or Malbec.

Bourbon (or rum) – bourbon is better but both will work great. (Light rum is best for gluten free sangria.)

Soda – sangria should be slightly sweet so to add a touch of sweetness, I use 7Up or Sprite. 

Apples – use sweeter, juicier apples like Honeycrisp.

Spice – cinnamon stick and whole cloves will give this cocktail an amazing fall twist.

HOW TO MAKE APPLE SANGRIA

Core and slice apples into thin slices. (Don’t peel the apples.) Add sliced apples and cinnamon stick to a large pitcher. You can put whole cloves into tea infuser or tie it into a piece of cheese cloth. This will make it eat to find it so you don’t serve it to the guests. 

Pour in bourbon and red wine into the pitcher. Stir everything together and cover the pitcher with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it overnight. 

Add soda right before serving so it doesn’t go flat. After you add the soda, give it a gently stir. 

CAN SANGRIA GO BAD?

Yes, it actually can. Even thought sangria is mostly liquor and wine, there is fresh fruit added. Fruit is what will go bad before the wine will and it will compromise the wine. So keep sangria in the refrigerator to extend the shelf life and consume it within 3-5 days. 

MORE COCKTAIL RECIPES TO TRY

Cranberry Sangria

Christmas Punch

Champagne Sorbet Punch

Spiked Nutella Hot Chocolate

Cran-Cherry Whiskey Sour

Cranberry Moscow Mule

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