Yule Recipe: Mulled Wine

There’s something mystical and magickal about sipping on mulled wine at Yuletime.  The warmth of the spices, fruit and wine in a beautiful hand thrown mug while sitting around a fire with friends and family welcoming back the light is something that can’t be beaten.

This recipe uses a base syrup which can then have more wine added to it just before serving.  When you heat the wine, you will evaporate the alcohol so using a base in this way keeps the alcohol content in the remainder of the wine.

Ingredients

1 orange (organic fruit is preferred, if using commercial wash thoroughly as any sprays will be drawn out of the skin during the boiling process)

Whole cloves

1 lemon

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup red fruit juice (grape, cranberry etc)

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

½ teaspoon vanilla essence (or vanilla pod if available)

½ teaspoon ginger powder (or a thumb size grated nub of ginger if using fresh)

½ teaspoon nutmeg powder

½ teaspoon mixed spice powder

5 black peppercorns

5 additional loose cloves

3 star anise

1/4 cup dried fruit

1/3 cup brandy, port or sherry

2 bottles red wine

Method

1. Press the whole cloves into the skin of the orange (as pictured) to create designs such as stars, moons, crosses and circles.  Slice the lemon and deseed. 
2. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of lemon, whole orange and 1 cup of fruit juice.
3. Add the cinnamon stick, bay leaves, ginger, nutmeg, mixed spice, peppercorns, cloves, star anise and dried fruit.  Add the vanilla essence to the pan (or halve the vanilla pod lengthways and add) then stir in the spirit (brandy, port or sherry) and lastly add the dried fruit. 
4. Let this simmer uncovered until the sugar has completely dissolved into the liquid, then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced to more of a syrup consistency.  This will give you a flavour base that has been exposed to enough heat to infuse the spices well with the liquid.  Making a syrup base first allows you to add the flavour to the remaining red wine without burning off all the alcohol. 
5. Once your syrup is ready, turn the heat down to low and add the rest of the wine.  Gently heat the mulled wine and after around 3 minutes once it’s warmed, ladle into heatproof glasses or mugs and serve.