Vin chaud (mulled wine)

Mulled wine is mostly served in France in winter time. While you ski in the Alps you can find a lot restaurants and cafes serving mulled wine. It is also very popular in the Scandinavian countries and in Italy and Germany. It is nice to serve some to your friends in a cold afternoon while playing games :) Red wine is mainly used but variations with white wine exist too.

The recipe 

Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Cost: $$ 

Ingredients for about 12 servings:

- 2 bottles of red wine (1.5 Liters). I recommend a Bourgogne or Pinot noir
- 7 oz of brown sugar
- 1 medium size orange
- 1 lemon
- 2 or 3 cinnamon sticks
- 6 cloves
- 1 piece of fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoon of honey 
- a small pinch of nutmeg
Optional:
- 2 star anise
- a couple of red currants

Preparation:

- Get zest from the orange and lemon
- Then cut the orange and lemon into pieces
- Slice the ginger
- Mix all the ingredients in a big pot
- Bring it to a boil very gently
- Let it delicately boil for 5 minutes

Serving ideas:

You can serve the wine in a carafe (and use some clear glass mugs). If you serve it individually in mugs, you can add some decorations: the cinamon sticks, orange slices, star anises, etc.

Mulled wine goes very well with gingerbread, sugared doughnut (beignet au sucre) or an apple pie (without cinnamon please :))