Spanish Red Sangria

Method

1. 1Pick your wine carefully. The single biggest variable in sangria is the wine. You need something fruity and low in tannins — Garnacha (Grenache) is ideal because it stays bright and berry-forward even cold. Tempranillo works well too. Avoid Cabernet Sauvignon: its high tannins taste metallic when chilled, and no amount of fruit fixes that. You don't need an expensive bottle. With this much fruit and brandy going in, the subtleties of a costly wine will disappear entirely — but a genuinely bad wine will still make bad sangria. Spend $12 to $18 on something you'd drink on its own.
2. 2Prep the fruit. Halve the orange: squeeze one half into the pitcher to get roughly 120 ml of juice, then slice the other half into thin rounds. Core the apple and cut it into 2 cm pieces — big enough that they don't turn to mush after hours of soaking, small enough to eat with a spoon. Slice the lemon thinly. Note: lemon pith releases bitter compounds after 6 hours of soaking. If you're planning to chill the sangria overnight, add the lemon slices in the last 2 to 3 hours rather than at the start.
3. 3Build and sweeten. Pour the wine into a large pitcher. Add the brandy, orange juice, orange rounds, apple pieces, lemon slices, and cinnamon stick. Stir briefly. Add the brown sugar or maple syrup — start with one tablespoon, stir until dissolved (about 20 seconds), then taste and add more if needed. How sweet you want it depends on the fruit and the wine. Some bottles and some batches of fruit don't need any sugar at all.
4. 4Chill. Cover the pitcher and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, overnight if possible. This is not optional patience — it's how sangria actually works. Six hours is when the fruit starts releasing its juice into the wine and the wine starts soaking into the fruit. Eight hours is better. Do not skip this step and serve immediately. It won't taste right.
5. 5Serve. Fill glasses with ice. Give the pitcher a good stir — sugar and fruit juice settle to the bottom. Pour the sangria over the ice and add a splash of sparkling water or soda to each glass if you want some fizz. Fish out a few pieces of fruit for each glass. The soaked fruit is often the best part.