Medium · hot
Mulled wine
Red wine warmed with citrus peel, cinnamon, cloves and star anise. The December welcome drink, and the only one that smells before it is poured.
- Pour
- 165 ml
- Strength
- Medium
- Best for
- Winter holidays, Dinner parties, Big parties
- Season
- Winter
- Fizz
- None
- Ahead
- Fully made ahead
The welcome pour
One glass, 165 ml
Heatproof glass or a small mug. Garnish: a slice of orange or a star anise floating on top.
The spec, according to Jamie Oliver: his mulled wine for ten uses two bottles of red, 200 g of sugar, clementine, lemon and lime peel, cloves, cinnamon, bay, nutmeg, vanilla and star anise: the sugar and spices are boiled into a syrup with a little of the wine, then the rest of the wine is warmed in gently. Danish gløgg (Arla's recipe) adds raisins and almonds and heats the wine to just under the boil, never over it.
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Red wine (a soft, fruity one) | 150 ml (5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Sugar | 20 g | in the jug |
| Fresh orange juice | 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Cinnamon sticks (per glass) | 0.2 | in the jug |
| Whole cloves (per glass) | 0.6 | in the jug |
| Star anise (per glass) | 0.2 | in the jug |
| Oranges for peel and slices (whole) | 0.2 | in the jug |
The jug
How much for your party
One welcome drink per guest plus a 15% spare. Sparkling wine and soda are counted here but stay in the fridge until the door.
| Ingredient | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Red wine (a soft, fruity one) 3 × 750 ml bottles | 2.1 L 9 cups | in the jug |
| Sugar | 280 g 10 oz | in the jug |
| Fresh orange juice | 210 ml 7 fl oz | in the jug |
| Cinnamon sticks (per glass) | 3 | in the jug |
| Whole cloves (per glass) | 9 | in the jug |
| Star anise (per glass) | 3 | in the jug |
| Oranges for peel and slices (whole) | 3 | in the jug |
| The jug holds 2.4 L (10 cups), which is 2 1.5-litre jugs filled to 85%. | ||
Make it
In the jug, then at the door
Ahead. Make the syrup up to a day ahead: sugar, orange peel and juice, cinnamon, cloves and star anise simmered in just enough wine to cover them, then boiled a few minutes until thick. Keep it covered.
At the door. Add the rest of the wine to the syrup and warm it gently for five to ten minutes until it steams. It must not boil, or the alcohol and the fruit go out of it. Ladle about 165 ml into heatproof glasses with an orange slice.
Keeps. The finished wine holds on the lowest heat for two hours. Do not leave it on a rolling simmer.
- Peel the oranges with a vegetable peeler, avoiding the white pith, and juice them.
- Put the sugar, peel, juice and spices in a pan with just enough wine to cover the sugar. Simmer until the sugar dissolves, then boil for four or five minutes until you have a thick syrup. This is Jamie Oliver's trick: the spices infuse hard without the whole batch ever boiling.
- Turn the heat right down and add the rest of the wine. Warm for five minutes until it steams. Never boil.
- Taste. More sugar if it is sharp, a squeeze of lemon if it is flat.
- Ladle into heatproof glasses. Keep the pan on the lowest heat and top up as guests arrive.
- For gløgg, the Danish version: stir in a handful of raisins and chopped blanched almonds per bottle, and serve with a small spoon.
The alcohol-free twin
Alcohol-free mulled wine
Arla, the Danish dairy cooperative whose gløgg recipe is the one in most Danish kitchens, notes that it can be made with alcohol-free red wine and the same spices. That is the twin: swap the bottle, keep everything else. Arla also publishes a children's gløgg on blackcurrant cordial for anyone who would rather not buy alcohol-free wine.
Same syrup, same gentle warming, alcohol-free wine in place of the red. It needs a little less sugar, because alcohol-free wines tend to be sweeter.
Reference: arla.dk
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol-free red wine | 150 ml (5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Sugar | 15 g | in the jug |
| Fresh orange juice | 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Cinnamon sticks (per glass) | 0.2 | in the jug |
| Whole cloves (per glass) | 0.6 | in the jug |
| Star anise (per glass) | 0.2 | in the jug |
Why it works at the door
Mulled wine, in three paragraphs
Every northern country has a version: mulled wine in Britain, Glühwein in Germany, gløgg in Denmark and Sweden, vin chaud in France. They differ in the spices and in what is dropped in the glass, but they agree on the one rule that matters. Warm it, do not boil it. Boiled mulled wine loses its alcohol, its fruit and most of its point.
It is the best welcome drink for a cold night because it greets people before they are through the door: the smell of cinnamon and orange peel carries into the hall. It is also the cheapest drink here per glass, and one of the easiest to hold for a whole evening on the lowest ring of the hob.
We follow Jamie Oliver's method of boiling the sugar and spices into a syrup with a little wine first, then warming the rest in gently, because it solves the boiling problem by design. The Danish way, from Arla's gløgg recipe, adds raisins and blanched almonds to each glass and is worth trying at least once in December.
Questions hosts ask
Can I make mulled wine ahead?
Make the spiced syrup a day ahead, then warm the wine into it just before guests arrive. The finished wine holds for a couple of hours on the lowest heat, but it should never boil.
Which wine should I use?
A soft, fruity red without much oak or tannin. Jamie Oliver uses Chianti; a cheap merlot or a Spanish garnacha works as well. Nothing you would miss.
What is the difference between mulled wine and gløgg?
Gløgg is the Danish and Swedish cousin: the same warmed spiced red wine, often with a little port or spirit, served with raisins and chopped almonds in the glass. Arla's recipe heats it to just under the boil, which is the rule for both.
Next to it on the tray