Cocktail Hour: Mulled Wine

Somehow I’ve lost track of 2017 (and don’t we wish we all could, because ugh) and all of a sudden the holidays are here again. While the season has no shortage of things to look forward to (Family and friends! Genuinely troubling quantities of food! String lights!), I have to admit that securely nestled in my top three is the warm, spiced delight that is mulled wine. In the sage words of Linda Belcher, Christmas magic is whatever you want it to be.

Though take my overenthusiastic word for it, you don’t have to limit this one to the holidays. Who’s to say you even need snow on the ground – a nippy breeze is enough to send me into the soothing embrace of glögg.

And we will not be putting raisins in our mulled wine, because we are not monsters.

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Mulled Wine

Perfect for a wintry day, or whenever you'd appreciate a warm little pick-me-up.

Course Drinks

Keyword drinks, wine

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 2 bottles

Ingredients

• 2 navel oranges
• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 whole nutmeg for grating
• 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
• 2 star anise
• 2 bottles of red wine (good options are a Syrah, Malbec, or Shiraz)

Instructions

1. Remove peels from your selected citrus, trying to avoid taking too much of the pith with them.

2. Combine the sugar, the juice of one orange, your peels and vanilla bean in a pot over medium heat.

3. Add just enough wine to cover the sugar, grate in some of the nutmeg, then add the remaining spices or mulling spice mix. Stir occasionally and continue to cook down until the mixture becomes syrupy, around 3 – 5 minutes.

4. Add the remaining wine and whisk together with the syrup, then reduce heat to medium-low until wine is heated through, around 5 minutes. You don’t want it hitting a boil, so keep an eye on it.

Recipe Notes

If you have a favourite mulling spice mix, you can use 4 tbsp (2 per bottle) in a sachet in place of the cloves and cinnamon above.

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s mulled wine recipe.

All that’s left is to grab a few mugs and enjoy! Optional: more people to share those other mugs with. If you have any left over, it can be strained through a fine sieve and stored in the fridge for an additional 1 – 2 weeks (but let’s be real: it’ll be used up by then).