Mulled wine is traditionally a hot drink that only seems to appear at Christmas, but why is that so? We all associate drinking mulled wine in cold weather and on vacation, this obviously gives us the wellness factor for the drink. So if we feel so good while drinking mulled wine, why don’t we drink it at any time of the year, especially during the cold and dull winter months when we really need to cheer ourselves up?
Reflecting on a wine (or any beverage, by the way) is simply infusing it with herbs and spices and then heating it to release these wonderful aromas. In times past, when a wine had lost its freshness and was beginning to oxidize, reflecting on it was a good way to rejuvenate it and make it taste again. By adding spices and a little honey, this “aged” wine was given a new life and, what’s more, it tasted great.
However, today, where red wine is most abundant, we do not have to wait for the wine to deteriorate before embarking on a reflection. One of the secrets to making mulled wine successfully is making sure the main ingredients have enough time to blend into the wine. In the German glühwein these are cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, cloves, citrus and sugar, while in the Scandinavian version almonds and raisins are also added. Another important factor is to ensure that the wine does not boil when heated, otherwise alcohol will be lost and a “cooked” taste may emerge. Remember that alcohol has a lower boiling point than wine.
Mulled wine recipe
1 bottle of red wine
60g / 2oz demerara sugar
1 cinnamon stick
grated nutmeg)
1 orange, cut in half
1 dried bay leaf
- In a saucepan, put the wine with the orange, the sugar, the bay leaf and the spices.
- Optional: Marinate for a few hours; if so, place the ingredients in a muslin bag to prevent disintegrating chunks from spoiling the wine.
- Heat it gently until the sugar has dissolved. Keep tasting to see if you need additional sweetness in the wine and add more sugar accordingly.
- If you have a thermometer, keep the temperature around 60 ° C or 140 ° F. NB Do not allow it to boil.
- Strain the mixture into heat resistant glasses and serve immediately.
Mulled wine appears under other names according to its origin:
Glühwein in Germany – “sparkling wine”,
mulled wine in France – “mulled wine”,
Glögg in Scandinavia – “heated”,
burnt wine in Italy – French for “burnt wine”.
In several other countries of the world, the name of mulled wine is based on its translation of ‘great spicy’, ‘boiled wine’, ‘cooked wine’, ‘warmed wine’ or simply ‘warmed’, ‘warmed’ or ‘cooked’ .
There’s nothing more enjoyable than enjoying the warm glow and tasty subtleties of a well-crafted mulled wine with your friends. Wherever it comes from, it’s still ‘mulled wine’, the only differences are the ingredients and the company!
