Mulled Wine

Filed in archive Wine Making on January 13, 2007

We missed whipping up a batch of mulled wine this season. I even had someone give me a gift of a mulled wine packet that I guess has all the fixings, sans the wine of course. I'm not really sure why we forgot. Maybe because it was still in the 80s down here. Hopefully, we'll get a cold snap soon and find a day when we can crank up a batch of this and chill for the hold day. Nothing beats sipping on warm wine during cold weather.

There are a lot of different recipes out there for this, but here's one from the About.com Wine site that matches pretty closely to what we usually do. I think the only major difference is that we don't add brandy:

INGREDIENTS:
One bottle (750 mL) of red wine (suggestions: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot)
One peeled and sliced orange (keep peel to add zest to taste into cooking pot)
¼ cup of brandy
8-10 cloves
2/3 cup honey or sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp fresh or 2 tsp ground ginger (allspice can be substituted)
Serves 4-6

PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients in either a large pot or a slow cooker. Gently warm the ingredients on low to medium heat (avoid boiling), for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure that the honey or sugar has completely dissolved.

When the wine is steaming and the ingredients have been well blended it is ready to serve. Ladle into mugs (leave seasonings behind) and enjoy!

We usually keep ours in a Crock pot so we can keep it warm as we sip it all day.