Paella and Sangria — “the nectar”

In our Paella and Sangria posts, we celebrated the moment of the feast, explored the origins of paella, and delved into the making of the paella.  Now, let’s turn to the nectar!

Perhaps, there is no more festive beverage than sangria.  And, like the Boar’s Head Feast, sangria has deep roots in history —after a couple glasses you may even philosophize about the origins of feasts and boars.

During the middle ages, many folks were afraid to drink water (concerned that it was poisonous) leading them to drink wine —now that’s a Champagne problem, my friend.  To add variety (and perhaps a bit of festive flair) feast-makers of the middle ages added spices to the wine forming a type of punch –sounds like the start of something…

Spanish feasters are credited with adding fruit and brandy to red wine.  The resulting drink was named, sangria, and became an important traditional drink of Spain (subtle connection to paella and not surprisingly the sweet fruity notes of sangria nicely balance the smoky, deep flavors of the paella).  The popularity of sangria in the United States grew after it was introduced during the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.

Today, sangria is the name used to describe most any wine-based fruit punch.  Some recipes use white wine instead of the traditional red.  Sometimes the brandy is replaced with rum or another spirit.  And of course, the type of fruit varies greatly.

For our sangria, I started with a modestly priced bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon and added spiced rum (1 cup), simple syrup (1 cup) and ginger ale (about 12 ounces —and then a bit more because after tasting I wanted more bubbles). For the fruit, I added oranges, lemons, limes, strawberries and pineapple —the soaked fruit is the best part!

I prepared the sangria in the morning and let it chill until the evening feast (my preference is to allow as much time as possible for the flavors to mingle, sometimes overnight). The result: happy feasters!

And no reason to leave the young feasters out. Just mix a fruit punch (I used a strawberry and pineapple punch and added the same fruit as the adult version). Similarly, it benefits from a long chilling time.

Garnish the glasses with fruit and serve.

Try pouring sangria without a smile, my friend —just try.