Brandy Mulled Wine Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep the alcohol content in mulled wine? ›

However, mulled wine does not include cucumber or candied cherries. The heat used in mulling encourages greater flavours from the citrus and the spices but also reduces the alcohol content, hence the common addition of a slug of spirit or liqueur just before serving.

Delia's own recipe is an old favourite of mine: heat a couple of bottles of wine with 6 tbsp honey, an orange studded with cloves, a few slices of orange and lemon, some ground ginger and a cinnamon stick, and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes before serving.

The best red wine to use for mulled wine is Merlot, Zinfandel or Garnacha (also called Grenache). These wines are dark, fruity and full bodied, which means they can support all of the flavors we'll be adding. Look for labels that describe the wine as “jammy” or with “notes of vanilla.”

Heat until the wine almost reaches a simmer over medium-high heat. (Avoid letting it bubble in any way. Alcohol begins to vaporize at 172°F, so take care to ensure that the wine does not evaporate.) Reduce heat to low, cover completely, and let the wine simmer for at least 15 minutes or up to 3 hours.

Sorry to spoil the party, but here's the real deal: Simply heating alcohol, or any other cooking liquid, does not make it evaporate as quickly as a child's allowance in a candy store. The longer you cook, the more alcohol cooks out, but you have to cook food for about 3 hours to fully erase all traces of alcohol.

I've used both sugar and orange juice to sweeten mulled wine in the past, but obviously orange juice would change the flavour significantly. Add more sugar slowly, tasting as you go. In a pinch, when cold thirsty guests are waiting, port sweetens things up and adds a deep rich flavor.

Just follow the directions for your favorite recipe and let the wine simmer with spices until it's deeply infused. Then let the mulled wine cool at room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container, and store it in the fridge — it will keep well there for up to three days.

Don't Overheat the Wine

Simmer the wine instead, and never boil it, as sugars will caramelize. Plus, alcohol burns off as it's heated, so don't “cook” the wine. When overheated, wine can taste raisin-like or syrupy, cancelling out the original fruity flavors that enhance spices and sweeteners.

How long should you heat mulled wine? ›

Method. Put the red wine, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, lemon zest and sugar in a large pan. Cook on a low heat for 10 mins. Remove from the heat and cool, leaving to infuse for about 30 mins.

Mulled wine is an alcoholic drink almost always made with red wine, though cider and non-alcoholic versions exist. Mulled wine is usually made with either a fruity red wine or port, as these give the mulled wine a sweeter, more enjoyable flavour.

Hailed as the world's most expensive, it costs £10 more than last year's bankrupter - the £50 Mayfair Mulled Wine from Hush in west London. The so-called Cinnamoney Spiced Wine's unique ingredients include a premium Bordeaux, a fine Champagne, a Normandie 'cidre' and a dessert wine.

I'd use wines over 4 weeks old for cooking, or at least boil the wine, and then combine with fresher wine when mulling (this is the original technique for ancient roman spiced wine, aka “Conditum Paradoxum”). Wines 4-2 weeks old became flat and lifeless when mulled, but were also totally inoffensive.

With the goal of consuming the alcohol, any evaporated alcohol is a small affront to the holiday season. But fear not, hot cider, hot toddy, and mulled wine lovers: Around 85 percent of your beloved alcohol will survive the heating process.

To make a lower-alcohol wine, the most direct way is to pick grapes when they are less ripe. Less ripe means less sugar, which will convert to less alcohol. After fermentation, there are some fancy ways to dial back levels of alcohol, including spinning cones and reverse osmosis.

Removal of pectin-rich fruit parts such as skins may reduce methanol content. Acidification of mash inhibits the activity of pectin methylesterase. It also inhibits spoilage microorganisms, which may produce pectin methylesterase. Temperature treatment efficiently denaturizes pectin methylesterase enzymes.

The science: Alcohol does partially evaporate during cooking, but not as much as you might think. Depending on the cooking method and how much alcohol is used, anywhere from 4 to 85 percent of the alcohol may remain. After 15 minutes of cooking, about 40 percent of the alcohol remains.