Patriotic sangria rocked the vote

For those of you who know me, it's no secret that I'm not uber patriotic. I blame it on my Euro upbringing -- that native Italian mother will get you every time. But this monumental election brought out the red, white and blue in me ... er, um, definitely heavy on the blue.

Last night my friend hosted a very entertaining blue vs. red election party. I give him mad props on extensively carrying out the theme -- Blue Moon and Red Stripe were the beer offerings. Oh, and YES HE DID have side-by-side bags of Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese Doritos. Needless to say, the blue bag got more votes. So I decided to bring something to fill the red and blue Solo cups: patriotic sangria.

The red, white and blue sangria got rave reviews, but honestly, this concoction was quite simple. Basically it's just a white sangria with fresh blueberries and raspberries. Here I used my homemade trebbiano, a white wine which at this point in its aging period still has a slight sweetness. You could, of course, use any white wine. Then I added white grape juice and triple sec, throwing in the fruit and a few ice cubes at the very end.

The important thing with sangria is the proportion of ingredients. My preferred ratio for a 750-mL bottle of wine is to add one cup of fruit juice and one-quarter cup of liqueur. As for fruit, that's all personal preference -- last night I was obviously trying to be as patriotic as possible. But the best part about making sangria is that you can be as creative as you want to be, so feel free to mix and match different juices, liqueurs and fruits. The possibilities are endless.