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So... What is it?
Mulled wine is a warm, spiced beverage typically made from red wine, along with various mulling spices and sometimes raisins. The origins of mulled wine date back to ancient Rome, where it was customary to heat wine and mix it with spices to ward off the cold. This tradition spread throughout Europe, evolving with regional variations. The common ingredients include red wine, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, citrus fruits (such as oranges), and sweeteners like honey or sugar. It's especially popular during the winter months and is a festive staple at Christmas markets in many countries.
What's ours like?
Absolutely delicious! Its sweet, sticky, earthy and has just the right amount of spice! When we say spice, we of course mean cooking spice, think christmasy flavours like cinnamon and honey, blended with an earthy sweet warmth from the cloves & star anise, molassasy richness from the rum, a touch of zesty fresh citrus from the oranges and all marrying together with dark berry character and just a hint of old tobacco from the elderberries. Drink this one cozied up fireside and you'll feel warm and fuzzy like you're sitting by a fireplace in the Swiss alps!
Batch Size & Cook Time
- 4-5 glasses (around 800ml / 27 oz)
- 10-11 standards of alcohol (Australian)
- prep time 5 mins
- cook time 20-30 mins (to taste)
What ingredients?
Spices & Sweets
- 2 oranges (one for cooking, one for garnish)
- 3 cinnamon sticks (2 for cooking 1 for garnish)
- 8-10 cloves (to taste)
- 2 whole star anise
- 1/2 a tablespoon of elderberries (optional)
- 3-4 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup (to taste)
Alcohol
- bottle of red wine (softer less intense wines are best, such as merlot or pinot noir)
- 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup of Rum or Brandy
Step by step process
Step 1 – Spices & sweets
- Measure out each of your spices and set them aside to add to a cooking pot or saucepan
- slice one of the oranges to desired thickness (thinner slices will extract more flavour) however if you'd like less bitterness you can peel the orange first
Step 2 – Heating the wine
- pour out a bottle of red wine into a cookpot or saucepan, generally softer reds are better for mulled wine, such as pinot noirs or merlots. Please not your wine does not need to be expensive! A good price point is something you are happy to cook with, we are going to add a bunch of flavours with our spices so no point spending top dollar on the wine itself!
- Wines with less tannins and robust flavours will produce a sweeter mulled wine that lets the spices shine more rather than the tanic bitterness and astringency of the wine itself.
- Add 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup of either rum or brandy to your pot, this will increase the alcohol content of our spiced drink, giving it more robust character and making it more of a winter warmer for those cold winter nights!
Step 3 Add spices and simmer!
- Time to start simmering! add all your spices and sliced orange to the pot, as well as 3-4 tablespoons of either honey or maple syrup depending on your preference. Start with less and add more to taste!
- allow your brew to reach a simmer NOT A BOIL! alcohol evaporates around 78°C (172°F) so keep the temperature around 70-75°C (158-167°F) max or you will start to loose your booze!
- Now you can let your concoction simmer away from anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes or to taste! The longer you simmer the more spice character and bitterness you will extract, so taste every now and again and stop the simmer when you are happy!
- Once you've reached your desired flavour strain the mulled wine out into heat safe glasses or mugs! But remember to strain all the spices out if you are not drinking it all at once! the longer the wine sits on the spices the more flavour it will pull, so if you leave it overnight it might taste like a tea that has had the bag in for too long the next day!
Step 3 Garnish & Serve!
- Garnish however you'd like! I am a fan of adding a few orange slices, a cinnamon stick and maybe a star anise, but the world is your oyster, your mulled wine is now ready to drink! So play around with this recipe and add or remove spices to taste and make your perfect winter warmer!
