On a recent visit to Virginia’s wine country (oh, yes, Virginia has wine. In fact, Virginia has some wine that is actually starting to make people take notice. But I digress.) I had occasion to try mulled wine for the first time. I’ve always loved mulled cider, but wine adds a richness and depth that blew me (and my palate) away. You can use any wine you like in this hot punch, and you will probably enjoy experimenting to find out which one you like most. The winery graciously gave me their recipe (handwritten, on a post-it note, for added charm) which I promptly lost, so I did some research and created this recipe based on what I could remember and on ideas from several other recipes for hot punches.
I enjoyed the little hint of tang added by the lemonade, but If you would prefer a less citrus-y punch, skip it.
Mulled Wine
Ingredients
- 1 bottle red wine I used "three buck chuck" Cab Sav.
- 2 quarts apple juice
- 1 can apple juice concentrate
- 1 can orange juice concentrate
- 1 can lemonade concentrate
- 1 sliced orange
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice OR a "bouquet garni" of 3 cinnamon sticks and half a Tablespoon whole cloves
Instructions
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combine all ingredients
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Simmer 2 hours or more.
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Serve warm. Garnish with a cinnamon stick, if desired.
Recipe Notes
If you have a jumbo size crock pot, you can use it set on "low" for this recipe. Just set it up about 4 hours before your guests arrive. If you don't, use a large stock pot on the lowest setting on your stove. DO NOT LET THIS BOIL. This is very important, as it turns out that if you boil cinnamon it will make you pay. (Google it if you need more information, or you can just trust me.)
I have visited Virginia’s Wine Country before! We only made it to one winery. Something with “Key” in the title. It was a nice relaxing drive out there. I do my mulled wine in a crockpot. Haven’t done it in a while. Maybe I’ll have to schedule a girls night in so that we can do it!
It turns out there are a LOT of wineries in Virginia, and also that they are all fairly young. I picked up a Virginia Wine guide while I was there and flipped it open and thought, “Oh, it would be fun to visit all of these.” Then I realized it was a large map of Virginia, and that there were six more folds just like the one I was looking at. So we’re looking less at a trip and more at a hobby. (And I thought about the crock pot, but I only have one and it was full of meatballs!)