Talk-A-Vino

What do you drink when snow is couple feet high outside? Of course hot tea or coffee are always appropriate, but having a cup of hot wine wouldn’t be bad either.

There are different names for the “hot wine” – if you look into the Wikipedia, you will see a number of different names coming from the different places, all signifying the same “hot wine” – most popular terms I believe are “mulled wine” (Brittish), Glühwein (German) and Glögg (Scandinavian). Under any name, the basic premise is basically the same. First you take red wine. Any red wine will do – I’m sure that it would be bad use for cult Cabernet, so you need something simpler. It is also possible to find the wine which is already prepared to be used in the hot wine, like the one I used today.  It can be called “spiced wine”, like this one from Williamsburg Winery.

The next step is to add spices – allspice, cloves, cinnamon stick, orange peel, and set the wine to heat up.  You can use any appropriate vessel for that – I personally use a special vessel typically used to make Turkish coffee. Also, if the wine you are using is not sweet at all, you might consider adding some sugar, to make it more pleasant.

The technology is simple – you add spices to the wine and start heating it up. The trick is to avoid boiling of the wine and take it off before boiling starts. You can also add a shot of brandy or rum – if you feel like it. Take it off before the wine boils and … voila! You have a delicious cup of warm beverage, and life is much better already…