Mulled wine is a perfect drink for the autumn-winter season, with spicy notes and a "New Year-Christmasy" mood. Preparing mulled wine yourself is quite simple, you only have to choose the right wine and ingredients.
How to choose wine for mulling
To make traditional mulled wine, dry red wine is best suited. Semi-sweet wines also produce a good hot drink, but it's worth to be careful with the amount of added sugar or honey, so that the mulled wine does not eventually come out too sugary. It is worth noting that dessert wines are not right for mulling, as they have higher alcohol per volume percentage, as well as sugar content. If you make mulled wine with dessert wine, the taste of alcohol will come out too strong and the drink will not bring that easy pleasure that is expected of it.
Wine for mulling should be quite simple, but at the same time good-quality. Choose medium-priced wines. Cheap wine used as a base can spoil the taste of a drink, but expensive wines simply lose their uniqueness, "drowning" their exquisite palate in a bouquet of spices.
Right combination of spices
As you know, mulled wine is appreciated most for a blend of spices, which are successfully combined in a hot drink. For its preparation, cinnamon, cloves, anise, lemon and orange peel work best. However, you can replace the zest with pieces of fresh fruit. It is good to use sugar or honey as a sweetener. When making mulled wine, it is best to add spices in a "solid" form, not ground. The thing is that small crumbs of ground spices will still be felt when drinking, while taking out larger pieces of spices and fruits before serving is much easier.
Nuances of mulling
- Prepare enamelware, which will be used for making mulled wine, as well as a wooden spoon for stirring. It is important to remember that wine should not be boiling in the process! When the wine comes to a boiling point, alcohol evaporates too quickly, leaving the beverage tasteless.
- Pour the wine (content of one bottle) into the enamelware and start heating. Add sugar or honey.
- Watch for the moment when you see steam coming from the beverage. At this time, spices and fruits are added.
- Add 6-7 cloves, 1-2 cinnamon sticks, 2 peppercorns, 2-3 anise flowers, a pinch of nutmeg and ginger. After mixing the contents, add the diced green apple and 1 orange, or zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon.
- When the mulled wine is close to boiling (ideally is 70-80 degrees Celcius or 158-176 Farhrenheit), it is necessary to turn off the heat and cover the enamelware with a lid. Let it brew for 5-10 minutes.
Serving and drinking recommendations
It is customary to drink mulled wine hot. Pour a drink into tall transparent glasses and enjoy not only the rich spicy taste, but also the beautiful ruby color of the beverage. Among mulled wine food pairings are fruits, chocolate or cheese with crackers which perfectly complement its taste.
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