Last Christmas I tried to introduce my wife, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law to the glory of mulled wine. It’s a drink I was allowed “just one” sip of as a kid as we sat beside the fireplace on Chistmas eve, singing carols and listening to dad regale us with stories of …
wait. That must have been from Leave it to Beaver. Our Christmas was in the summer, mum was quietly stoned on gin and tonics and dad was our trolling for whores in the city. :eek:
But in our winter-time, when I used to stay over at a friends house, his parents would often brew up a batch of the stuff, and it was quite good.
However, when I tried it last year, using a simple recipe from the net, it wasn’t that great. So do you have any tips or tricks? What type of wine do you like as a base (I was thinking a merlot?). Share your mulletude with me!
When I’ve tried making it at home it’s been nasty and acidic and I’d much rather have just drunk the wine. Does anybody have a recipe that’s actually good? (I love using the Penzey’s mulling spice mix with apple cider, but I just hate how the wine turns out.)
Hmm, non-aluminium saucepan. That might have been the problem for my last batch. I wonder if I have a non-aluminium one. I’ll have to check. Thanks Johnny!
Isamu: I missed your last line. You can use any old red wine – within limits. I wouldn’t use a bottle of screw-top plonk; but I wouldn’t use anything expensive. Just use something you wouldn’t mind drinking normally. I’m not a wine snob. I think ‘Two-Buck Chuck’ (Charles Shaw, actually $3 outside of California) tastes fine. Last year I used a $6 or $7 bottle of something-or-other.
While I wouldn’t use wine-in-the-box, I have used a cheap bottle of red that I tried and found somewhat bleh by itself, so you really don’t need to go top-shelf. The recipe I have recommends burgundy, but I’ve used pinot noir and other random stuff and it always turned out fine.
My recipe came from the back of the mulling spices tin:
1 qt. burgundy wine
2 cups sweet vermouth
1/3 cup sugar or honey (I prefer honey)
Then 2 Tablespoons (approximately; I invariably use more) of the mulling spices, which were a combination of orange rind, cinnamon stick, whole allspice, and whole cloves. I have also used (for mulled cider, not wine, but I imagine results would be similarly fine) a whole orange with bunches of tiny slits cut into the rind with the tip of a knife, and whole cloves and allspice stick in the slits. Toss doctored orange and cinnamon sticks in the cider/wine.
Mix all ingredients, heat to just below boiling, simmer for at least 20 minutes, to taste. I usually go longer.
I typically make this in a crock pot like thing that my mum gave me. The pot part can be lifted off the heated base and heated on the stove like a regular pot to near-boiling, then placed back onto the base for long-term simmering. I expect a regular crock pot would work too, but might take longer to heat and simmer.
This recipe has never failed me. Warm and rich and spicy. Yummy.
