Guide to Drinking and Serving Mulled Wine
For a chilly winter’s evening, there’s nothing like a mug of mulled wine to help you stay warm and toasty. The mixture of wine, spices, and fruit flavours drives back the cold, and it’s a brilliant drink to enjoy all winter long.
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In a previous article, we taught you everything you need to know about how to make a delicious mulled wine at home.
In this blog post, find out how to serve mulled wine, what to eat when serving mulled wine, how to drink mulled wine the right way, and more…
How to serve mulled wine?
If you want to know how to serve mulled wine correctly, we’ve got some advice to help you out:
What type of mug/glass/cup to use?
Most mulled wine is served in a mug. A regular ceramic or porcelain mug will help to protect your hands from the heat of the spiced wine, and the handle will make it much easier to drink. Glass mugs with handles are another good option for serving mulled wine.
However, there are special mulled wine glasses. These glasses are designed for serving mulled wine, and while the shape can vary slightly, they have handles, enabling you to hold the drink even when hot. They usually have a wide brim, making it easy to drink the wine with the the garnishes (orange slices, cinnamon sticks, etc.).
How to avoid grainy or gritty mulled wine
Many recipes call for you to use ground spices when making mulled wine, but adding the powdered spices can lead to grainy or gritty wine. Instead, why not toast the spices whole (cinnamon sticks, cloves, anise, etc.) and add them into the pot with the mulled wine without grinding them? You will also be able to strain them out easily, and be left with a smooth wine free of grit.
As a bonus, toasting the spices without grinding them will bring out the essential oils, giving a richer a deeper flavour.
How to garnish mulled wine
You can always serve mulled wine without a garnish, but what fun would that be? Here are a few fun ways to garnish the mulled wine:
- Drop in a cinnamon stick
- Drop in an orange slice
- Dot cloves into orange peels and drop the studded peel in
- Drop in whole spices (like star anise)
- Drop in a few cherries or brightly-coloured berries
The garnish is mostly decorative, but it’s all a part of the fun that is mulled wine!
Mulled Wine Pairings – what to serve with mulled wine
Whether you’re curled up with a good show or book or playing some games in, mulled wine is a warming drink that’s brilliant on its own or with food and snacks too. Here are a few mulled wine pairings ideas:
Mince pies & festive sweets
For those who love the classic British style of mulled wine (or cider), pairing it with mince pies is the ultimate Christmas combination. Want to find out more? Read our complete Christmas Desserts and Wine Guide. Other traditional Christmas treats like gingerbread, fruit cake or stollen pair well with mulled wine.
Cheeses and fondue
If you’re looking for a few kinds of cheese to pair with a sweet mulled wine, try serving saltier cheeses. Blue cheeses like Roquefort pair well with heavily spiced wines (featuring cinnamon and clove flavours), or try pairing your mulled wine with berry flavoured Wensleydale or Comté cheese. Or try it with fondue for a heavenly combination.
Festive savoury snacks
Dark chocolate
The richness of dark chocolate compliments the richness of mulled wine, especially a darker chocolate with dried fruit in it.
Swedish dishes
For those who are making “glogg” (the Swedish version of mulled wine), traditional Swedish dishes like pickled fish and crackers or ginger biscuits go well with the mulled wine.
How to keep mulled wine warm
Mulled wine is fairly easy to prepare, though it is somewhat time-consuming. It’s always easier to make a large batch all at once, and simply keep it warm throughout the evening. The nice part about it for a larger crowd is that it can be left on the stove during the evening, and it fills the room with a beautiful wintry scent.
You have three options for having eternally warm mulled wine throughout the evening:
- Re-heat it: If you make mulled wine in a pot, you can always put that pot back on the stove and re-heat the wine. As long as you don’t bring it to a boil, the flavour of the wine won’t be affected. You may lose a little of the alcohol punch, but you still get all the mulled wine flavours.
- Prepare it in the slow cooker: Preparing mulled wine in the slow cooker will take longer (up to 3 hours on a low setting), but it will make it much easier to keep the wine warm. Simply leave it on low or warm, and it will stay nice and warm all night long.
- Pour it into a thermos: If you have a large enough thermos, you can keep the mulled wine on hand throughout the evening. The thermos will keep it nice and warm, and it will be easy to serve without having to go to the kitchen.
Can you drink mulled wine cold?
Some wines (like white wine and sparkling wine) are meant to be drunk cold, while others (such as red wine) are meant to be consumed at room temperature. But what category does mulled wine fall into? Most do enjoy this festive drink as a winter warmer, but drinking it chilled is always an option too if that’s your preference. Or you can even use your mulled wine to make a mulled wine cocktail … which is said to be a great party drink (here’s a simple recipe for a mulled wine cocktail from BBC Good Food).
Wines to use for mulled wine
Here are some organic wines that we sell here at Vitnage Roots that are perfect for drinking hot and making mulled wine:
- Adobe Syrah Reserva – Chilean wine with a spicy, smoky flavour, and hints of blackcurrant.
£10.50
- Mas de Longchamp Rhone Rouge – A blend of Grenache and Merlot, with cheerful flavours of mellow fruits.
£10.99
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Organic Roots Rouge – A fruit-forward organic red full of soft, bright fruits with aromas of juicy black raspberry and cherry.
£10.95
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Pays D’Oc Montmija Merlot – A smooth and soft Merlot with rich plum and figgy fruit flavour.
£10.99
- Bodegas Latue Bohem No Added Sulphur Tempranillo – one of our top selling red wines with ripe, black fruit forward and juicy soft tannins.
Original price was: £10.50.£9.50Current price is: £9.50.
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Toscar Tinto Bag-In-Box (3 Litres) – For a big batch of mulled wine, a bag in box red is a good option. The flavours of this one are somewhere between dark cherries and soft strawberries, meaning it will blend perfectly with the spices you use for your mulled wine.
£33.50
Check out our How to Make Mulled Wine at Home article for more wines you can use to make mulled wine at home, along with a simple mulled wine recipe, along with our How to Make Mulled Cider guide.
Follow the advice above, and you’ll nail that mulled wine every time. Now that you know how to serve mulled wine just right, you can turn every winter night into a party!
