March 3rd: National Mulled Wine Day

Mulled wine is a beverage usually made with red Wine along with various mulling spices and Raisins. It is served hot or warm and may be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas and Halloween. It's also a common tipple in Ski resorts.

1. Mulled wine was invented by the Romans. For them, it was a way to use up low quality wines and make them more palatable. As their armies conquered Europe, they brought their wines and their recipes with them.
2. By 1390, it was known in England. A recipe for it appears in The Forme of Cury, an English cookery book published that year. 14th century cooks would make mulled wine by grinding together cinnamon, ginger, galangal, Cloves, long pepper, nutmeg, marjoram, cardamom and grains of paradise ("spykenard de Spayn", or Rosemary). This would be added to red wine and sugar.
3. The Victorians used to drink a kind of mulled wine called "Smoking Bishop" made from port, red wine, lemons or Seville Oranges, sugar and spices such as cloves. The citrus fruit was roasted to caramelise it and the ingredients then warmed together. Charles Dickens mentions this drink in his story, A Christmas Carol; but it is rarely drunk today.
4. The trick to preparing mulled wine is not to heat it to the extent that the alcohol burns off. Great care must be taken, and a thermometer is essential. The danger of losing alcohol content begins at 167 degrees F; 160 degrees F is the perfect temperature.
5. The spices in the wine, which are likely to include cinnamon, cloves and vanilla, preserve the mixture - so it can be prepared well ahead of time and heated up when required.
6. It is usually served in a porcelain or glass mug and may have a slice of orange studded with cloves as a garnish.
7. In German-speaking countries the drink is known as Glühwein, which means “glow-wine”, because it used to be heated with hot irons.
8. The oldest documented Glühwein tankard, a gold-plated lockable Silver one, dating back to about 1420, belonged to Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen, a German nobleman who was the first grower of Riesling Grapes.
9. Most recipes use red wine, but there is a version which can be made using white wine, though it's not as popular. You can also get mulled Cider and mulled ale. People who don't drink don't have to miss out, either - mulled Apple juice is another alternative.
10. If you're travelling abroad and fancy a mulled wine, it goes by a number of different names. In Germany and Austria, it's Glühwein; in France, it's vin chaud (hot wine); in Italy, it's vin brulé (which comes from the French language and means burnt wine); in the Netherlands, it's bisschopswijn (bishop's wine); it's gløgg in Norway and Denmark; glögg in Sweden and Iceland; glögi in Finland and Estonia; In Bulgaria, it's called greyano vino (heated wine); in Portugal, it's vinho quente, which is also what you'd ask for if you wanted mulled wine in Brazil. In Chile it's called "candola" in the south and "vino navega'o" in the north. In Quebec, Canada, red wine is mixed with Maple syrup and hard liquor and heated. This drink is called Caribou.

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