Sangria

[lizardbrains]

Hi! It's been a long time since I've visited - and I miss you guys! I sure have learned a lot from gleaning great wine info. from this board! (And I've got lots more to learn, I know!)

Anyways... my question is about sangria. Mainly, I'm just curious as to what it is (is it a wine?) or maybe how it's classified. I do know that I have a recipe for sangria which calls for a table red wine, some fruit, and some sugar. I fouled it up big time the one time I tried to make it.

[I'm warning you: here's a tangent!] I spent the summer of '98 in France. While there, I turned 20, and in celebration of my birthday, a friend (who had spent the last semester in Spain) bought me a pitcher of Sangria (which we shared). Okay, so my first experience with Sangria was in France. And the pitcher had slices of apples and oranges on the top. It tasted great, and my friend commented that it tasted just like the Sangria she had while she was in Spain. Well, since then, I have tried many Sangrias here in the states (some in restaurants (not "nice" restaurants, since I'm still young and poor), and some from bottles at small (cheap) wine stores). None of the Sangrias that I've tried here have been close to the Sangria I had in France (which supposedly tasted very authentic to Spain).

[And here's another slight tangent...] Just the other day, I bought a cheap bottle of Chianti (my first time trying chianti - it wasn't bad). Well, today I mixed it with some Dole orange-pineapple-mango juice. And what do you know? The combo tastes almost like that Sangria I had in France!!!!!

So... here's my (other) question: Do any of you know of a good Sangria?

And in case you've forgotten since I've gone on-and-on-and-on, my first question is: What exactly is Sangria (how is it classified)?

I sure hope you guys can help! [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]