Sangria falls into that most beloved catagory- the cheap thrill.  I make a pretty good Sangria.  I am sure that there is better Sangria out there…my friend Barbara makes a Sangria that pops to mind…but considering the ratio of inexpensive to good I believe that my Sangria cannot be beat.  Wine does not agree with me really, but I am willing to put up with it in the form of Sangria because if you are drinking Sangria you are not trying to get drunk you are just being festive.  The lovely festive appearance of the Sangria does part of the work for you.  You don’t even have to drink it if you don’t feel like it.  You can just stand there looking festive with your glass of Sangria.  But if you do drink it…this will taste pretty good and cost very little.

I’ve been making this Sangria a lot in the last few months.  I made a truly astounding quantity for the Don Cristobal, Billy Club Man opening night and donor thank you party and another smaller amount just for our cast when we got together to watch the video recently.  I made a batch for the cast of a puppet show that  I went on tour with recently.  We all had lovely hotel suites with kitchens and this particular cast were older (well my age anyway) and frugally inclined so drank Sangria and ate home made nachos on the cheap in our lovely hotel suite all week!  It was very civilized.

• 2 large juice oranges, washed, one sliced, one juiced
• 1 Large lemon, washed and sliced
• 1/4 cup sugar (could be less if your wine is not too horrible)
• 1/4 cup triple sec
• 1 750 milliliter bottle chilled, cheap merlot

1. Mash the sliced fruit and sugar in the bottom of a large pitcher until the citrus released some juice.
2. Stir in the orange juice, wine and triple sec
3. Let it sit in the fridge for 2-8 hours.