Cranberry Pomegranate Sangria

This was quite tasty if I do say so myself (and I do say so - Hiccup!) :-) I'll definitely be putting this one into rotation for holidays. Hey, it's red, which means it goes with Valentine's Day AS WELL AS Memorial Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! How often do you find a drink that will cover all of those bases?

Cranberry Pomegranate Sangria

1 750 mL bottle of red wine of choice

4 cups cranberry pomegranate juice

2 cups POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

1 cup orange juice

3/4 cup simple syrup (recipe follows)

1 pineapple, sliced, juice reserved

1 orange, sliced

Sprite for serving

1. Combine all ingredients (including juice reserved from pineapple) in a large pitcher.
2. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
3. To serve, add ice to glasses. Use tongs to remove fruit from pitcher for each glass. Pour sangria and top off each glass with Sprite.

Simple Syrup

1 part sugar

1 part water

1. In a saucepan, boil sugar and water over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved. 
2. Remove from heat and let cool completely before using.
3. To store, refrigerate, up to 2 months.

Notes: 

Because of the red juices in this recipe, if you happen to have or even prefer white wine, you can use that instead and the recipe will still turn out the same pretty red color. I've made it once with white and once with red and it has been great both times.

You can substitute cranberry juice for the cranberry pomegranate juice if you can't find it.