Fall Sangria

This eye-catching seasonal sangria from the Main House is made with a special simple syrup. The drink gets an Autumn flair from the flavors of herbs and beets, bringing earthiness and balance to the mixture. Stir up a batch and enjoy all season long!

Ingredients for group serving:
1 bottle Cabernet (Blackberry uses Pride Cabernet for this drink, but you can use a brand you like!)
2 cups beet herb simple syrup*
1 cup water
1 cup lemon
½ cup Cointreau

To make:
Combine all ingredients together in a pitcher or large vessel and stir to mix.
Pour the sangria into an ice-filled wine glasses to serve.
Garnish with orange slice, granny smith apple slice and a thyme sprig.

*For the beet herb simple syrup:
2 beets
Herbs – thyme, sage, rosemary, mint

Here is how the Main House beverage team makes their beet/herb simple syrup. Enjoy playing around with the flavor of your herbs to create a syrup you enjoy!
Shave the beets into slices then cut them up in smaller pieces. Blend the beet pieces to extract juice. Strain the beet juice.

Take a handful of your desired herbs – we use thyme, sage, rosemary and mint. Cut the herbs up and add them to a small amount of boiling water to steep. Strain the water, so you’re left with an herb concentrate. (The longer the herbs steep, the stronger the flavor will be.)

Combine the herb concentrate with the beet juice.

Separate the mixture equally into two containers. (We use one-quart containers.) Add 2 cups of sugar to each container. Then fill the rest of the container with boiling water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. (A traditional simple syrup ratio is 1:1 sugar and water. If you’re unsure about the size of your container, start with 2 cups boiling water. You can always add additional water if you want to thin your syrup.)

The result is two quarts of homemade beet/herb simple syrup to enjoy!