Glühwein |Mulled Wine | The Most Loved Christmas Drink Of Germany
What is the best way to fight the European winter? A warm cozy winter jacket you’d say. But, once you’ve enjoyed a glass of Glühwein, you won’t be needing that jacket to keep you warm. This wine by far, is Germany’s favourite Christmas drink! And I’m not wrong in saying it is quite popular across Europe.
Germans call it Glühwein (gluehwein – pronounced glue wine), the Brits call it Mulled wine, the French know it as Vin-Chaud, the Italians call their version Vin-Brule and the nordic regions comprising Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland call their version as Glögg (gloegg) which has some variation with the addition of different liquors like brandy and vodka.
History of the Glühwein
No prizes for guessing, but once again the Romans take credit for having invented this drink, way back in the 2nd century. To keep themselves warm during the cold weather, they would heat up their wine and drink. The love for this warm drink spread to every region the Romans conquered/ traded with.
As the popularity grew, spices were introduced with the belief that they promote good health and ward-off illnesses. Herbs, flowers and natural sweeteners too came into the picture to add more flavour to the drink.
Glühwein roughly translates to “glow-wine”, derived from the glowing hot irons that were used to heat up the wine in the early days, across the German landscape.
My first tryst with the Glühwein was in December 2015 when I first experienced the German Christmas markets. Had just heard about this beautiful spectacle until then and experiencing these markets for real, I was blown away. The rows of stalls, decked up beautifully and selling various stuff from various edible delights to ornaments and variety of different things.
And then, me experiencing the first German winter, clad in a cozy warm winter jacket, sipped on some Glühwein and few minutes later, the warm and cozy jacket was too hot too handle and I had to open my jacket. The warmth this wine exudes through your body, really does help to fight the cold.
The best way to enjoy the christmas markets is to grab a glass of this wine and explore the market sipping on this wine. Don’t be alarmed when you end up paying more than the price mentioned for a serving of Glühwein. It is the deposit for the glass. It will be refunded when you return the glass. Some people like me, collect one of these glasses as memorabilia. Sadly, this year though, all christmas markets have been cancelled to combat COVID-19 and hence no memorabilia.
How to make Glühwein
The process is absolutely simple. Grab some wine and heat it with aromatics and spices and serve. As simple as that! Yes it is very simple. Just follow a couple of pointers.
Originally only red wine was used, but nowadays even white wine is used to make Glühwein. You can basically use the same recipe for both wines. Make sure that the wine you procure is a dry wine and nor fruity. Doesn’t have to be the most expensive wine of the lot but don’t pick the cheapest either. I have mentioned a basic recipe but you are free to add your own flavours to it.
Simmer the wine with oranges, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and sugar. The trick is to simmer the wine just upto the boiling point and not let it boil. If it boils, its going to burn off all the alcohol in the wine. So simmer it for sometime and then let it steep for about 2 hours for all the flavours to release into the wine. Just before serving, heat it once again and serve. Done!
Some even add orange juice or even cardamom, pepper, coriander and even vanilla. Feel free to experiment and nail your favourite flavour of Glühwein. Germans at time do spike their Glühwein with some Schuss, which is nothing but a shot of Rum or Amaretto.
Glühwein
Ingredients
- 750 ml Dry Red Wine / White Wine
- ⅓ cup Sugar
- 1 Orange, halved
- 6 pc Cloves
- 2 pc Star Anise
- 1 pc Cinnamon Stick
Instructions
- Halve the orange and poke the cloves into the halves
- In a saucepan, mix all the ingredients together and bring the whole mixture to a gentle simmer for about 20 minutes. Do not at any cost, let the mixture boil.
- Take it off the flame and let it steep for a couple of hours for the flavours to infuse.
- Heat it once again before serving.
- Strain and serve!
Notes
- Just simmer the wine. DO NOT BOIL!
Jason thank you for this wonderful recipe 🙂 Tried it for the first time and it turned out super awesome! A straight forward & super easy recipe very well explained.
Hi Cynthia. Happy to know you loved the Gluehwein Recipe. Thank you for this lovely review.