Cozy up with hot spiced wine this fall
People ask me all the time, “What do you do with leftover wine?” If I don’t enjoy the flavor or the wine is chemically unstable (fizzy, browning, vinegary), I dump it. I try to avoid pouring money down the drain by shopping with trusted merchants who know their stock and my palate.
If I want to finish the wine, just not now, I freeze it. By November, my freezer contains an assortment of repurposed plastic containers with labels like “Malbec ‘25” or “OR Pinot ‘23” along with freezing date, ready to be thawed for one of wine’s traditional purposes ― not as a drink but as an ingredient.
Let the wine do the work
It makes sense to incorporate wine into recipes. While wine’s acid tenderizes ingredients, wine flavors ― carefully crafted by the winemaker ― add a range of fruit, sweetness and spice seasoning to your recipe. Recipes abound for classics like Pere in Camicia al Vino Rosso (pears poached in wine), Coq au Vin (chicken braised in wine), and wine sauce for fish, meat and veggies. But even a spoonful of wine can make canned soup taste like a gourmet treat.
A worldwide crowd-pleaser
With a passel of guests this season, I’ll be thawing some reds for hot spiced wine.
First recorded in ancient Rome, hot spiced (or mulled) wine traveled with legionnaires throughout Europe. In the 1800s, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” forever associated mulled wine with Christmas, reinforced in 1943 by Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and angel Clarence’s preference for “heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves.”
The basic recipe, while centuries old, remains the same: Into a saucepan, pour one bottle (or about 25.4 ounces) of red wine along with eight whole cloves, two cinnamon sticks, two star anise, two to four tablespoons of honey and one sliced orange. For extra oomph, add ¼ cup of orange liqueur, rum or brandy. Heat to a simmer. Pour through a sieve to remove the spices and fruit. Serve in mug. To zhuzh up presentation, garnish with fresh citrus, herbs and/or spices such as a fresh orange round, star anise and/or a rosemary sprig. Serves five to eight mugs.
International recipes reflect local tastes and ingredients. Germany’s Feuerzangenbowle (fire tongs punch) involves a rum-soaked sugar cube, flamed and dripped into each mug. Danish gløgg calls for raisins and whole blanched almonds, with optional lingonberries or ginger. Americans may prefer a base of apple wine (hard cider), maple syrup for sweetening and Bourbon for a kick.
Tips for mulled wine
1. Use fresh fruit and whole spices, to be strained out after heating to avoid bitterness.
2. Heat just to a simmer. Boiling removes most, but not all, of the alcohol, along with alcohol’s pleasant effects.
3. Tell guests that your punch contains wine, for any teetotaler.
4. Only use wine that you would drink. No amount of seasoning will cover an unpleasant wine’s off flavor.
5. Use wine that’s rich in fruit, but low in oak and tannin, such as Cotes-du-Rhone Rouge (France), Barbera (Italy), Tempranillo (Spain) or a U.S. red labeled “naked.”
6. You may blend similar leftover wines.
7. Mulled wine keeps several days in the fridge and can be frozen. If your recipe includes a distilled spirit, it will only freeze to a slushie.
8. Mulled wine is so delicious, you may forget that it’s alcohol. Watch your intake and eat before, during and after consumption.
The Danes are as famous for their gløgg, often served with spiced cookies or orange-infused chocolates, as they are for hygge (pronounced WHO-guh), a sense of cozy contentment. I bet there’s a connection.
For more hygge, join me as I appear in “The Snow Queen,” the Hans Christian Andersen folktale adapted by Mallory Swisher and produced by The Impostors Theatre Company. Equal parts whimsical, haunting, joyful and human, “The Snow Queen” is appropriate for ages 12 and older. It’s at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 6-21, at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $26-$31; call 773-697-3830, see thedentheatre.com/ or tickets.thedentheatre.com/.
• Mary Ross is an Advanced Sommelier (Court of Master Sommeliers), a Certified Wine Educator (Society of Wine Educators) and a recipient of Wine Spectator’s “Grand Award of Excellence.” Write to her at food@dailyherald.com.