Another season, another sangria and a plethora of returning favorites as well as new fall television shows to sip watch tweet with. Whether you call it fall or autumn, you’ll love this sangria all season long. To reiterate as I have in seasons past, sangria is simply wine, fruit and an additional liquor, technically brandy, but you know, it’s my thing to break the rules. I’d love to say it’s difficult to make, it isn’t. All you have to remember is the key to amazing homemade sangria is good dry wine and seasonal fresh fruit. In the fall the there are lots of yummy fruits in season. A multitude of different varieties of apples and grapes, figs, pomegranates, lemons and oranges just to name a few.

After lots of thoughts and tests (the testing was the best part!) I chose and perfected a pomegranate and black grape sangria. I first chose Concord not black seedless grapes but it was such a hassle to deseed the concords, I couldn’t possibly recommend it. Black grapes have a similar sweet wine-like flavor without the seeds to get in the way. We’ve a lot of drinking, TV watching and tweeting to do, right? Right!

Pomegranate & Black Grape Sangria Recipe
Bottle of Dolcetto (or other dry fruity red wine)
Bottle of POM pomegranate juice
2 Crates of pomegranate seeds (you can find them at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s)
2 cups of black seedless grapes
1 cup Cassis (or other blackberry liqueur)
1 Meyer lemon, juiced

Slightly muddle the grapes and pomegranate seeds in a large pitcher with a wooden spoon. Stir in all the liquids except the lemon juice and let stand in refrigerator for at least an hour. Take the pitcher out and add the Meyer lemon juice. As fresh fruit will have less or more sugars, sip to taste. Should you desire more sweetness you can add up to 1/4 cup of agave nectar or simple syrup. I’d highly discourage adding any more sweetener than that as it will drastically change the flavor of your sangria. Pour over ice and enjoy.

Pomegranate black grape sangria will last up to a week refrigerated…Though it never lasts that long in my house.