Cranberry Pear Sangria

Summer sangria is red wine and citrus. This is its cold-weather counterpart. White wine keeps it bright enough that the cranberry reads as tart rather than heavy, and the pears, at their best and cheapest in October and November, do something in this that peaches and oranges never manage. They stay firm, take on the wine, and come out of the pitcher as the best part of the drink.

The overnight rest is not optional if you want this to taste like sangria instead of wine with fruit in it. Four hours is the minimum. Twelve is better. In that time the fruit gives up its sugar and perfume to the wine and takes the wine’s structure in return, which is the whole point of the drink.

Use 100 percent cranberry juice, not cranberry cocktail. The cocktail versions are roughly a quarter juice and the rest sugar water, which pushes the sangria sweet and washes out the tartness you added it for. Unsweetened juice is sharp on its own. That is correct, and the honey syrup and the pears bring it back into balance.

Cranberry Pear Sangria

A fall sangria built on white wine, cranberry juice, and brandy, with sliced pears that soak overnight and taste better than the wine they came out of — serves ten.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Total Time 4 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Drinks

Cuisine Spanish

Servings 10 drinks

Ingredients

  

• 2 bottles dry white wine 750 ml each, Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc
• 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice 100 percent juice, unsweetened
• 3/4 cup brandy
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice fresh
• 2 pears firm, cored and thinly sliced, Bosc or Anjou
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1 orange thinly sliced
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 cups club soda chilled

Instructions

 

• Whisk the honey into the hot water until it fully dissolves. Honey will not incorporate into cold wine on its own; it sinks and sits at the bottom of the pitcher.
• Combine the wine, cranberry juice, brandy, honey syrup, and lemon juice in a large pitcher or drink dispenser.
• Add the pear slices, cranberries, orange slices, and cinnamon sticks. Press the fruit down so it sits below the surface.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. This is where the drink is actually made.
• Taste before serving. Wine and juice both vary, so adjust with a tablespoon more honey syrup if it is sharp, or a squeeze of lemon if it has gone round and sweet.
• Remove the orange slices if it has sat longer than 12 hours — the pith turns bitter well before the rest of the fruit gives out.
• Add the club soda just before serving, pouring it down the inside of the pitcher to keep the fizz.
• Serve over ice, and make sure every glass gets a few pieces of pear.

Notes

The wine should be dry, cheap, and unoaked. A bottle at eight dollars is the target. Oaked Chardonnay fights the fruit and sweet Riesling makes the whole pitcher cloying.

Buy pears when they are in season and firm, and let them ripen on the counter for a day or two if they need it. Underripe pears slice cleanly and hold up overnight, which is what you want here.

Fresh cranberries are cheapest in November and freeze for a year in the bag they came in. Buy two or three bags then and use them all winter.

Frozen cranberries go straight into the pitcher and double as ice for the first hour.

Any leftover fruit is worth keeping. Spoon it over yogurt or ice cream, or simmer it down with a spoonful of sugar into a compote for pork or toast.

Make it alcohol-free: replace the wine with 6 cups of white grape juice plus 2 cups of strong brewed green or white tea, skip the brandy, and cut the honey to 1 tablespoon. The tea is what keeps it from tasting like plain juice — do not leave it out.

Serving note: 2 bottles of wine and 3/4 cup of brandy across 10 servings is roughly 5 ounces of wine plus a splash of spirit each.

Keyword big-batch cocktail, cranberry, holiday drink, sangria