Usually I consider sangria a summer drink. I remember sitting in a restaurant looking out upon Arcachon Bay on my honeymoon, eating oysters and drinking sangria and soaking in the delicious June sun. I also love to make a white sangria for our summertime barbeques. It would never occur to me to make it for a holiday cocktail party, but when I found this recipe for Spiced Cranberry Sangria over at PhillyBurbs.com, I wondered why it had never occured to me. Sounds like the perfect holiday drink! I just had to share it:

Amada's Spiced Cranberry Sangria Serves 5

1 750 ml bottle of rose tempranillo
4 oz. (3/4 cup) of spiced simple syrup*
3 oz. (3/8 cup) of ruby port wine
3 oz. (3/8 cup) of torres gran orange Liqueur or cointreau
3 oz. (3/8 cup) of cranberry juice
apple chip (optional garnish)

Macerated Cranberries

2 cup fresh cranberries
2 granny smith apples cut into small cubes
4 oz. (1/2 cup) of ruby port wine
6 oz. (3/4 cup) of simple syrup
6 oz. (3/4 cup) of triple sec

Macerate fruit in syrup, triple sec and Port Wine (at least four hours and preferably overnight). Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. When finished, fruit should be a bit "soupy" from the juices being drawn out.

Mix wine, simple syrup, port wine and orange liqueur. This is the base wine product for the sangria. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

To serve, add macerated fruit to wine mix. Gently stir. Fill glasses with ice. Scoop 2 tablespoons of the fruit and their juices over the ice. Pour wine mix into glasses, garnish with an apple chip and serve!

*Spiced Simple Syrup

2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
8 allspice berries
6 cloves
3 whole star anise

To make simple syrup: bring all ingredients to a boil while stirring constantly. Strain solids from liquid. Discard spices. Set liquid aside to cool completely before serving.