Mulled wine: tradition, ingredients and recipe

Vin Brulé is a classic winter drink, particularly linked to the end of the year holidays. It is a very fragrant drink, with an intense and persistent taste, ideal for fighting the frost of winter days. Vin Brulé is a very simple preparation based on wine, fruit, spices and sugar, which is present in the tradition of many northern European cultures under various names: Vin Chaud in France, Mulled Wine in England, Glühwein in Germany and Glögg in Sweden. Its origins are ancient. Already Apicius, in the times of Ancient Rome, indicated a recipe for hot wine sweetened with honey and spices. This is not surprising, since it was customary in ancient times to consume wine by adding aromas, often also to cover winemaking or preservation defects. Let's start from a basic concept: to make a good mulled wine you need a good wine. Avoid buying poor wines, even if heated, the wine retains its characteristics. Using a low quality wine will mean making a bad mulled wine, so don't save on the main ingredient. Since we are talking about a preparation linked to culture in northern Europe, for territorial consistency we will choose a red wine from Tentino: for example a Schiava or a Teroldego aged in steel, so that they retain their fragrant and fruity character will be perfect. Alternatively you can use a Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon. In Veneto often in Vin Brulé it is prepared with white wine, in this case we can choose a Chardonnay or a Pinot Blanc, always aged in steel.

Ingredients

1 liter of red wine: Schiava or Teroldego

1 organic orange

1 organic lemon

nutmeg

4 cloves

2 pieces of star anise

2 cinnamon sticks

100 g of sugar

Preparation

Wash the organic oranges and lemons and remove the zest. Put the wine, citrus peel, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and sugar in a saucepan. Bake for about ten minutes at the maximum temperature of 70-75 ° C, being careful never to exceed it. The wine must absolutely not boil.

If you want to enrich Mulled Wine with some extra aroma, you can add ginger, cardamom and juniper berries to the spices. Once filtered, you can serve the smooth mulled wine or with apple cubes.