Glühwein (Mulled Wine)

Glühwein’s origins can be traced back to mulled wine: wine heated with spices, especially aromatic ones like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and the like. Mulled wine was known to medieval Europeans as Hipocris, after the physician Hippocrates and was celebrated as early as 400 A.D. Boiled wine was known to be more sanitary than water and, when consumed, was alleged to ward off sickness and keep people healthy through the cold winters.

With wine as its base ingredient, no other drink has provoked so much literary praise as Glühwein. “A shot of Glühwein helps heat up the parlor,” wrote Goethe to his friend Schiller. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was fashionable to share a few glasses of the hot spiced drink in the company of good friends, and what was once a home tradition soon spread to the streets. Today, it is typical of the six-week Advent season and offered everywhere at the stalls of the Christkindlmarkt. Here is Austria’s special recipe for Glühwein:

Ingredients:
1 bottle dry red wine
1 lemon, in slices
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
2 tbsp. sugar
cardamom
Heat the red wine. Add lemon slices, together with the spices, and let simmer for five minutes. Remove from stove, cover with a lid and allow to steep for one hour. Before serving, heat and pour liquid through a strainer.