Christmas cocktails

How to make Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks around. But this classic festive mixture of wine, spices and fruit is easy to get wrong. Luckily, you can control the process at home and avoid the terrible imitations you often find in bars and markets. The trick is to do a test run before you host so you can adjust ingredients to your preferences and not ruin Christmas. To help you out, we've decided to give you the best recipe we know for the perfect Mulled Wine - good luck, you've got this!

Contributed by

Adam O'Connell

Mulled wine cocktail recipe

Prep

15 mins

Serves

12 people

allow 2-4 hours cooking time.

Ingredients

200ml Brandy (St Rémy Signature would work well here)

Two bottles of good fruity red wine (75cl bottles)

8 Allspice berries

4 Clementines, satsumas, or tangerines

3 Star anise

3 Bay leaves

2 Cnnamon sticks

1 Vanilla pod

300g Caster sugar

A partridge in a pear tree. (Obviously not really. You’ll never fit it all in).

Method

Step 1

Cut the tiny oranges of choice into thick slices and put them in a large saucepan with your spices: allspice, cloves, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, and vanilla pod (split lengthways). Stir in the caster sugar before you pour over the wine and brandy, then place the pan over low heat. Bring it all to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 2

Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for at least two hours, but you can go up to four, before serving. When you do serve, make sure to heat up again gently without boiling, and to strain to leave some of the larger spices for decoration. You’ll need to ladle into heatproof cups, the kind you would serve a Hot Toddy in, unless you hate your hands.