Holiday Mulled Wine, White or Red?

The other day, we just so happened upon a great sale of cheap wine at Kroger’s, the wine was Gallo, in fact, 750 ml size, marked to $2.99 a bottle.  Hmmm…one idea came immediately to mind-mulled wine.  So we bought several Chardonnays and Cabernets and began our research on what sorts of things to put in them for mulling.  I consulted a number of websites with recipes and some with the historical information of how mulled wine came about to arrive at the following recipes for white and red mulled wine.  The mister has enjoyed his red variety, much less sweeter I’m assuming than mine, while I toyed around with the white.

Here is our method and recipe for a great mulled wine:

(To be made in quantities of one bottle)

First, start off with 1/3 C water in a small sauce pan

Add your mulling spices

            For red, use                                          For white, use

3 peppercorns                                      3 peppercorns

2/3 of a cinnamon stick                         1 whole cinnamon stick, broken into 3

2 whole cloves                                      3 whole cloves

3 pinches of nutmeg                              1/2 of an orange peel, dried, torn

1/3 of an orange peel, dried, torn                                 

1 bay leaf

Bring water and ingredients to a boil, stirring, boil for several minutes, abusing the hard ingredients to release their flavor

White wine mulling-start-small skillet

Remove from heat

Reduce burner to simmer, return skillet to heat, stirring for another 5 minutes or so.

Remove from heat and let cool, 5 minutes or so

Transfer contents to a separate, large skillet, adding sugar and stirring

            For red, use 1 1/2 T. sugar, for white, use 3 1/2 T. brown sugar

Apply low heat

Add contents of 1 wine bottle, stirring until all sugar is dissolved

Simmer for 10 minutes

White wine added

Taste….make any adjustments needed

Fill glasses and enjoy!

Hints:

We used tangerine peel and were perfectly satisfied

Remove the peel after adding the wine, or it can become overwhelming

Place a part of the used cinnamon stick in your glass to add flavor up to the moment you drink it!

Avoid boiling all of the alcohol out of the wine.

You can also put a dot of honey in the bottom of a glass of white mulled wine, it will melt in the warmth and disperse.

And finally, don’t waste good money or good wine with mulling intentions!