Cherry Sangria

Farewell, non pensarci e perdonami
se ti ho portato via un poco d'estate
con qualcosa di fragile come le storie passate...

Farewell, don't think about it and forgive me
if I took away from you a little bit of summer
with something as fragile as past love stories...
Francesco Guccini, Farewell

We had fallen in love in front of bottomless sangria amidst the warm scent of a June evening, blinded by a perfect moon, shiny and round, sad but without melancholy. It was a bet made for fun, a walk at sunset, and the innocent music of a dinner improvised on the floor.
Now I don't know anymore, if it was really happiness, that thing shining at the bottom of the glass. If it was an illusion, I loved it anyways, because it was sweet and intoxicating, a fragile dream that charmed us with its red cherry aroma and the cozy tenderness of a meadow in spring.
Time has cheated us, dragging away our own reality as a soap bubble in the middle of a storm. Still, the languid flavor of memories remains, as well as this glass of sweetness that dazzles and confuses me, just like then.

Cherry Sangria*
for 6 people

red wine 1 bottle
freshly squeezed orange juice 1 glass
cinnamon 2 sticks
brandy 100 ml
Grand Marnier 40 ml
Cointreau 40 ml
agave syrup 3-4 tablespoons
cherries as needed