Good wine for every day is ideal
What drink do you associate with a winter blizzard, frosty mountain air and snowy forest? I'm sure it's mulled wine. Indeed, we taste the most delicious and aromatic mulled wine in the mountains in winter, and we remember it all year round. And the point is not only in the atmosphere of a winter fairy tale, but also in some features associated with atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of wine in the mountains and the rate of diffusion of aromas in the frosty air. But let's not talk about physics, but about mulled wine recipes.
First, I'll tell you a couple of secrets ( or maybe they are not secrets for you) of delicious mulled wine.
1) Use a wine you like to drink. I'm not talking about unique varieties, the best years and other aristocratic style. The point is that for mulled wine you don't need to take the cheapest wine, like the most expensive. For delicious mulled wine, a good wine for every day, "table wine"
2) Red wine or white? Yes, for an amateur, in fact. If you take red wine, you will have a rich mulled wine, and you can use almost any spice from the “sweet” set. But with white wine, you need to be a little more delicate, and choose lighter, citrus flavors.
3) Should we boil mulled wine? Boil longer - more alcohol will leave the wine. And essential oils are volatile. If you cook on low heat, slowly bringing to a boil, then the spices will give off aroma and the alcohol will be preserved. My advice is to heat the spiced wine to 70-80 ℃. This moment is easy to determine even without a thermometer - the finger is already hot, steam is beginning to be released, but the wine has not yet begun to “ make noise”.
4) Honey or sugar? It is said that in the process of heating honey, substances hazardous to health are released. But the amounts are so tiny that soda or fried potatoes are more harmful. But honey really loses its useful properties, only taste and aroma remain. Therefore, if you use honey, I recommend adding it after removing the mulled wine from the heat.
5) And the last advice - you can safely use absolutely any fruit that you like. And almost all my favorite spices. If suddenly you have mango, cayenne pepper and lime leaves - why not! There will be delicious Asian mulled wine.
Here are a few varieties of mulled wine that I recommend trying.
Traditional option
For 1 bottle of dry red wine:
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 star anise
3-4 boxes of cardamom
Zest of half an orange, you can add juice
5-6 dry clove buds
2-3 black peppercorns
Honey or sugar to taste
Citrus variant
For 1 bottle of dry red wine:
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 boxes of cardamom
Zest of half an orange, you can add juice
Lemon zest
Lemongrass sprig
3-4 tangerines, chopped whole
5-6 dry clove buds
Honey or sugar to taste
Mulled white wine
For 1 bottle of dry white wine
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 star anise
1 teaspoon dried Sudanese rose
3-4 boxes of cardamom
Zest of 1 orange
1 medium sweet apple
5-6 dry clove buds
2-3 black peppercorns
2 allspice peas
1/6 hot chili pod
Honey or sugar to taste
The technology for making mulled wine can be described in a couple of sentences - we chop all the fruits, add to the wine along with spices and slowly heat it up without boiling. We taste, we balance the sweetness. And then cover with a lid and let it brew for 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy your winter mulled wine!