Easy party drink for the holidays: Bacana Sangria

During the busy holiday season, who has the time or even inclination to make one of those old-fashioned punches? I mean, do you feel like peeling and chopping up fruit, infusing them? No, I didn’t think so. Also, wouldn’t it be nice if a celebratory drink came in single size? For instance, this Thanksgiving, my neighbor Carroll invited me to hang out after dinner/second helping time. I grabbed a Bacana Sangria — rose’ to drink with  turkey — and I was good to go. I was happy to be hosted to experience it!

You might not think of Sangria during the holidays, but you should. The fruit flavors go so well with traditional foods like fruit glazed ham, sweet potato pie, turkey, cranberry sauce, even canapes.

The folks at Bacana point out that Sangria originated on the Iberian Peninsula at least 2,000 years ago, when Roman armies were using wine to what amounts to disinfecting water. Bacana is made in Portugal.

The bottles practically exclaim to serve it very cold, so do it! They’re decorated with stars, so that’s festive. They come in traditional sized bottle and single sized, with a convenient pull-top. No fancy, or even unfancy, opener needed. If you do find yourself not finishing the bottle, get yourself a plastic cork.

They describe the White Sparkling variety as, “A white frizzante wine based drink, made with selected native grapes, fresh notes of green apple, passion fruit, pineapple and peppermint.” I noticed white grape flavors and citrus tang. It has a nice, light sparkle with bright flavors, not too sweet.

They make the Rose’ Sparkling variety with wine, along with natural essences of orange, lemon and lime. I noticed red apple and strawberry notes. It was this variety that I had on Thanksgiving, going so well and refreshingly with the traditional holiday flavors.

The Red Sparkling has more intense color and notes, like red apple peel and dark grape, along with sparkle and citrus brightening things up. This is an outstanding drink to go with spicy foods, like barbeque or chili.