Hot Spiced Wine

Mulling Spice

This history of mulled wines goes as far back as Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. In fact, the Egyptians considered it to be the remedial elixir of the afterlife!

Wine in itself was already very popular as it provided a safe alternative to water, which at the time could and would kill you. Spices and herbs, which have been long used for their medicinal purposes, began to be added to wine as well to help treat ailments and heal patients. (If you think about it, our cough syrups of today are not so far off from a fortified wine!)

From first a medication, spiced wine quickly became popular and the idea of warming it became a fan favorite, as winters in wine producing climates tend to be chilly.

In fact, it is this process, of heating up spiced wine that gave it it’s new name, Mulled Wine. The term mulled simply means to take a spiced wine, a wine with added spices and herbs, and to heat it up.

Through generations, the ingredients in spiced and mulled wines have changed. Early versions included cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, ginger and honey while the Egyptians recipes included pine resin, figs, coriander, mint and sage.

Hot Spiced Wine

One thing that is most certainly lacking from our everyday winter routine is mulled wine. This delicious drink combines red wine and our secret blend of mulling spices. You can even replace the wine for apple juice for a quick cider for everyone!

Ingredients

2 bottles dry red wine

1/4 cup MarnaMaria Mulling Spice

1 cup sugar

Directions

In a large saucepan, combine one bottle of red wine, MarnaMaria Mulling Spice and the sugar.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for ten minutes until the sugar has melted, the wine has reduced and begun to take on a syrupy texture.
Add the second bottle of wine and lower the heat.
Let simmer for ten minutes more.
Strain and serve hot.

The trick to this recipe is finding the right balance of infused wine with the mulling spices and not burning off too much of the alcohol in the wine during the heating process.

Our trick is more wine! We suggest two bottles, one to steep the spices giving you a rich wine syrup and a second bottle that retains all the wine components that we love.

Serves 6