Holiday Treats: Crockpot Mulled Wine

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

That seemed rather true to me the other night when I made a lovely batch of warm mulled wine in the crockpot for a holiday gathering. It went something like this at our house when Venus Me and Mars Hubby took our first sips:

Me: Boy, this is tasty stuff. Do you like it?

Hubby: Um, yeah I guess so. But it’s hot.

Me: Well of course. It’s mulled wine. It’s supposed to be a warm spicy comforting winter beverage. Plus I can use my cute holiday mugs!

Hubby: But it’s wine. And it’s hot. Wine is supposed to be cold.

Me: Wine doesn’t HAVE to be cold. It tastes awesome, all warm and spicy. It’s Christmasy and festive!

Hubby: It’s wine. And it’s hot. Wine is supposed to be cold.

Me: mumble, mumble, it tastes great . . it’s festive . . . just drink it!

Hubby: mumble, mumble, wine is supposed to be cold!

crockpot mulled wine

Well, that was Day 1. We had some leftover mulled wine after our company left so Hubby and I decided to put the leftovers in the empty wine bottle that I saved. We got out the funnel, spooned the leftovers out of the crockpot into the bottle, corked it up, and put it in the frig.

Then came Day 2. I came home from work to find Hubby sipping a glass of the cold (yes, COLD) leftover mulled wine.

Me: Is that the leftover mulled wine you’re drinking?

Hubby: Yeah, it tastes a lot better now. It’s cold.

Me: (taking a sip) Well, now it tastes too sweet. You don’t get the right effect of the sugar and spices when it’s cold. It tastes kinda . . . heavy or something.

Hubby: Yeah, but it’s cold. I like it this way.

Me: Mulled wine should be hot!

Hubby: Any wine should be cold!

Mars!! Venus!!

We agreed to disagree.

So I very much enjoyed this WARM mulled wine and gladly recommend the recipe. But consider yourself warned that there just MIGHT be some other folks out there, who for reasons beyond comprehension, will think it tastes better cold.

Love them anyway 🙂

mulled wine ingredients

Crockpot Mulled Wine Recipe

You Will Need:

  • 2 bottles (750 ml) of dry red wine (such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir or Chianti)
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed orange Juice (from 3 oranges)
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 cinnamon sticks 4 whole cloves
  • One additional orange to slice and float in the crockpot

Pour the two bottles of wine into the crockpot. Juice the three oranges which should yield about 1 cup of juice, and add to the wine in the crockpot. Then stir in the sugar, allspice, and cinnamon.

Next, you can either just place the whole cloves and cinnamon sticks directly into the wine mixture, or you can tie them in a square of cheesecloth and put them in the wine. I just floated them in the wine, but the whole cloves are tiny and can easily end up in somebody’s drink. If you choose to put the cinnamon sticks and cloves in a bundle of cheesecloth, you should remove it before serving.

Slice the remaining orange and float the slices in the wine mixture.

Cook on low for at least 4 hours to heat the wine and let the spices mingle in.

Serve WARM in mugs.

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