Best Mulled Wine Recipe - Good Food Baddie (2024)

FAQs

What is the best win for mulled wine? ›

The best red wine to use for mulled wine is Merlot, Zinfandel or Garnacha (also called Grenache). These wines are dark, fruity and full bodied, which means they can support all of the flavors we'll be adding. Look for labels that describe the wine as “jammy” or with “notes of vanilla.”

To minimize any bitter flavor, you can peel the orange before simmering it in the wine. You can also always add extra sweetener.

Serving Your Freshly-Brewed Mulled Wine

Appropriate Glassware: Use heat-resistant glasses or mugs. Traditional glass wine goblets might crack with the heat, so opt for thicker, sturdier glasses or even festive mugs.

Method. Put the red wine, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, lemon zest and sugar in a large pan. Cook on a low heat for 10 mins. Remove from the heat and cool, leaving to infuse for about 30 mins.

“For mulled wine, I'd use an inexpensive cabernet sauvignon or merlot from Chile, as these wines show lots of fruit and not so many tannins. No need to spend money here!” says Jeff Harding, wine director at New York's Waverly Inn.

You need to infuse the wine long enough with the spices to take on their flavour but DON'T ON ANY ACCOUNT LET THE MIXTURE BOIL as you'll be left with a bitter taste. Slow and low is the way to go. And it shouldn't be served piping hot, just comfortably - and comfortingly - warm.

By far, aging and sweetening with cane sugar is the most common remedy for a bitter homemade wine. It is all that needs to happen most of the time, but there are situation where it just isn't enough. The fruitiness still isn't there or what have you. In these instances experimentation may be necessary.

While it's a nice drink to imbibe on its own, it's always more fun to think of pairings. Truthfully, mulled wine pairs well with everything from roast beef or sausage to cheese platters. Miller loves to take comforting, classic meat and potato dishes and throw in Filipino twists.

What cheese goes with mulled wine? ›

Blue cheese is ideal with a heavily spiced mulled wine, and we think you'll also love it paired with Stilton, Gorgonzola, aged Cheddar, or the creamy, nutty and subtly sweet style of Gruyère or Emmental cheeses.

Mulling spices: These vary in mulled wine from country to country, but whole cloves and star anise are my favorites, plus perhaps a few cardamom pods. Sweetener: Feel free to add your favorite sweetener to taste. Sugar is classic, but I prefer to naturally sweeten mine with either maple syrup or honey.

Serve them in little glass cups with handles, add a bit of orange peel and nobody will know that you didn't make it yourself. And finally, whether you're buying it in or making it yourself, a glug of port, sloe gin or even rum before serving will lift the whole thing.

Yes. Even though the spiced wine is heated, most of the alcohol remains.

Ainsley Harriott recommends mulling wines in a slow cooker and says two hours at low temperature gives excellent results and should retain most alcohol content.

Choose the Right Varietal.

The best wine for mulled wine is dry and full-bodied, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Zinfandel, or Syrah. These will stand up to the other flavors and ensure the spiced wine won't be too sweet.

Mulled Wine Ingredients:

Wine: No need to splurge on a pricey bottle — a mid-range bottle of dry red or white wine will do. (Or if you're making a big batch, this is a great recipe to break out a nicer boxed wine too!)

Mugs are not only perfectly acceptable for serving mulled wine, they're arguably the optimal choice. A typical wine glass is made of relatively thin glass, so if you put a hot beverage in it, they're going to be difficult to hold, especially if they're stemless.