Costco KS Sangria – at $6.99 it’s a good, fast and cheap path to a great summer cocktail.

This bonus sized bottle of Kirkland Signature Spanish Sangria (just $6.99 for a double bottle!) is everything you need to chill with this summer. Well, almost everything…

Fast facts:

• 2017 Kirkland Signature Classic Red Sangria, Vino de España, Spain (Product #1025679) $6.99 @ Costco, California

I’m a big fan of Sangria when it’s hot and you’re looking for something to sip poolside, lakeside or (discretely) at the beach or a concert in the park. It pairs especially well with your tapas or grilled fish tacos.

I have walked past this display of the Kirkland Signature Sangria countless times, but when the temperatures drifted past 90 degrees and stayed there for a spell here in California (gotta ripen those wine grapes!) I figured it was time to take this wine for a test drive.

Upon tasting this wine, we found it to be a pleasant blend of red wine and orange citrus flavors, which is pretty typical for Sangria. It would be fine served over ice with a slice of citrus.  But personally, I found that it was just a little lacking.  I wanted it to have more pronounced fruit flavors and some effervescence (also typical for Sangria recipes) so I added a healthy splash of San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa blood orange flavored soda.  I would estimate that I used three parts Kirkland Sangria to one part soda.

The “Magic” of the 3:1 Blend Ratio

Adding the soda to the pre-made Sangria mix does several things:

1. It livens up the resulting beverage by making it fruitier, lighter, bubblier and more refreshing.
2. It knocks the alcohol back by diluting it.  As it is, this Sangria as it comes bottled is only 6% alcohol.  The addition of the soda puts it below 5%, which is less than a  half to a third of most table wines.
3. It masks some of the uncommon spice flavors that are in this Sangria mix.  About those spices…

One thing that surprised me about this mix was the added spices.  Most sangria recipes let the fruit (mostly citrus) lead the way in terms of flavor.  The Kirkland Signature has notes of orange in its melange, but it also has pronounced flavors of baking spices. They are not unpleasant, but they were unexpected. It is another reason that I like adding the soda- it dilutes them.  But conduct your own experiment, you may finds you like this mix just fine served cold with no ice.  Or poured over a glass full of ice.  It’s a matter of personal preference, and mine is to have it with a big splash of soda.  (Even an orange soda or Sprite would do.)

I suspect this Sangria is a seasonal item and that when the Christmas decorations come out at Costco (which is probably only weeks away given it’s August) the Sangria will go on hiatus.  But if it’s still around as autumn becomes winter, this Sangria would be interesting to warm and serve as a mulled wine or Glögg. Crazy, right?

Never heard of Glögg?

Sweet, warm, and spicy, Glögg (sounds like “glue-gh”) is Sweden’s seasonal mulled wine gift for chilly souls. If you wanted to make one from scratch, this festive mulled wine recipe (linked below) would help take the chill off of cold weather with intense allspice aromas and warm palate pleasing pep.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-glogg-recipe-3510987

But let’s not give up on summer yet.

There is plenty of summer Sangria weather left in our forecasts. Even if you don’t get around to trying this featured bottle of Kirkland Signature Sangria, there is a pretty easy hack that can help you take just about any bottle of red or white table wine, some San Pellegrino sodas, and witch up a quick batch of your own simple – and delicious – Sangria.  We posted about it at length last year and you can find it here: https://wp.me/p9ygim-2H

Cheers!