How to stay cool in a Spanish Summer

On our fully-guide Camino tours, we always try to give our clients exactly what they want! Well, by popular demand, we are finally sharing our favourite Summer Spanish drinks, including an authentic Red Wine Sangria and a fresh summer White Wine Sangria. We know summer is reaching its end, so we hope this helps keep that summer feeling a bit longer!

 

 

Summer Spanish drinks

Spain is pretty well known for a variety of summer drinks, some even being a bit eye raising! Ask any young Spanish person what their favourite summer drink is and they very well might tell you its a Kalimotxo. This is red wine mixed with Coca-Cola.  Yes, Coca-cola. Now, don’t knock it until you try it! It actually tastes very refreshing if you like a bit of bubbles. For a Kalimotxo you don’t have to use the best quality red wine. The younger people prefer it as they can camouflage it in their soda bottles as they wander off to their summer fiestas!

Many Spaniards cool off in the summer heat with a Vermut paired with ice and a slice of fresh orange. Often you will hear of la hora de Vermut, or the hour of Vermut….and they do exactly what the name implies. Drink cold Vermut, either white or red, with a typical Spanish tapa normally catching up with the neighbourhood gossip. After opening our bar on the Camino de Santiago, TabernaNova, we recently discovered that many Spaniards enjoy a drink mixed with both red and white Vermut.

There is also a drink called Tinto de Verano or Summer Red. This is basically a very simple Sangria made with red wine mixed with lemon soda. To spruce it up, add some chopped fruit to your Tinto de Verano and it will be hard to tell it is not an authentic Spanish Sangria, especially after a few glasses!

There is no official Sangria recipe of Spain so each region or family recipe will vary slightly. But, lets get to our favourite authentic Spanish Sangria Recipes.

Red Wine Sangria

Ingredients:

  • Spanish Red Wine – typically we use a Rioja but try a variety and see which red wine suits your taste. You also don’t need the most expensive bottle of red wine as  Sangria is the prefect solution to a bottle of red wine that maybe you don’t love on its own.
  • Brandy, although you can use Cognac or an Orange Liqueur – 1/4 – 1/2 cup depending on preference
  • Fresh fruit – for our summer red wine we love using fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc) and  lemons or oranges (or both). Again, this is a place you can get creative and try whatever you may have in the cupboard that needs to be used. Apples are a staple in a Spanish Sangria.
  • Juice of 2 Oranges
  • Cinnamon Stick
  • Sugar – the amount will totally be to your taste, but we normally add 1/4 cup sugar.
  • Optional – some sort of bubbly drink – Sprite, Orange Soda, Ginger Ale or La Casera (a sweet bubble water here in Spain).

Method:

  1. Chop your fruit into small pieces. We like to slice our oranges to have a variety of fun shapes in the bottle.
  2. Combine your Red Wine, Brandy, Fresh Fruit, OJ, Cinnamon Stick and Sugar in a large pitcher. Mix very well.
  3. Cover and place in the fridge to get really cold, up to 24 hours.
  4. Serve the Sangria over ice and top up with your bubbly drink.

 

White Wine Sangria

Ingredients:

  • A crisp Spanish White Wine –  normally we use an Albarino. If you are outside of Spain and can’t easily access an Albarino, use a Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc.
  • Brandy, perhaps an Apple Brandy for this lighter version – 1/4 – 1/2 cup depending on preference
  • Fresh fruit – for our summer white wine we love keeping it citrus based and use lemons, limes and oranges. Sometimes, we also like to throw in some summer peaches, donut peaches if you can find them!
  • Juice of 2 Oranges
  • Sugar – the amount will totally be to your taste, but we normally add 4 tablespoons of sugar.
  • Some sort of bubbly drink – Sprite, Ginger Ale, Club Soda or La Casera.

Method:

  1. Slice your citrus fruits into rounds.
  2. Combine your White Wine, Brandy, Fresh Fruit, OJ and Sugar in a large pitcher. Mix very well.
  3. Cover and place in the fridge to get really cold, up to 24 hours.
  4. Serve the Sangria over ice and top up with your bubbly drink. Add a slice of orange to the side for a bit of flare!

Enjoy your Summer Spanish Sangria with some typical tapas of Chorizo, Manchego cheese and of course, olives! Or try out our Andaspain family Spanish Tortilla recipe!

 

 

 

*Photography by RCI Photography.