Mulled Wine | Unbottled Jeanne’s Recipes

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I love a good seasonal drink. Really, I love all things seasonal. In cold months, I want cozy slippers and pajamas, spicy apple and vanilla scented candles, and warm drinks. For me, that means a lot of mulled wine and hot chocolate.

Put everything in a pot and heat at a low temperature until it is warm and ready to drink. The cloves and star anise are very drying, so I started putting those in a metal tea infuser so they don’t get in my mouth when I drink it. If you do that, I suggest taking the infuser out if you don’t serve the entire batch at once. This will keep it from having a dry aftertaste as it mulls longer before you refill the cups. 

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Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of Merlot 
• 3 star anise
• 4-5 cloves
• 4-6 cinnamon sticks (depending on the size of the sticks) 
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup apple cider

Tips:

• Don’t let it boil or steam too much – you don’t want to lose any alcohol.
• If you plan on making it on a whim and have a Keurig, keep some apple cider k-cups on hand
• Play around with it a little. I like having a lot of the wine flavor, so I don’t add much honey or apple cider, but add more if you want it to be sweeter.
• Even though the star anise makes for a pretty garnishment, it is very drying if it gets in your mouth. Put those ingredients in a metal tea infuser. 
• Once it is warm enough to drink, remove the cloves and star anise. If you use a metal tea infuser like I do, take that out. The longer it mulls, the dryer the aftertaste will be that is caused by those ingredients.

BONUS: This is what my kitchen really looked like in the making of this post.