Tips for Drinking and Serving Mulled Wine

Mulled wine is a drink that you can enjoy on its own. Whether you’re sitting in front of the fireplace with a good book, playing games with your family or watching TV. Mulled wine is a warming drink that is brilliant on its own. You don’t need to serve snacks or a meal, as the wine stands alone. It’s a great winter drink.

However, if you’re serving mulled wine, here are a few foods that pair well with the spiced drink:

Swedish dishes

Traditional Swedish dishes like pickled fish and crackers go well with the mulled wine.

Fondue

The combination of rich cheese and white wine makes for a brilliant dinner to serve alongside mulled wine.

Cheese

If you’re looking for a few slices of cheese to pair with a sweet mulled wine, try serving saltier cheeses. Blue cheese pairs well with heavily spiced wines (featuring cinnamon and clove flavours), and you’ll love the pairing of mulled wine with Roquefort, Wensleydale, or Comté cheese.

Mince pies

Of course, mulled wine is great with mince pies. It is the ultimate Christmas combination.

What type of mug/glass/cup to use

Most mulled wine is served in a mug. Ceramic or porcelain mugs will help to protect your hands from the heat of the spiced wine, and the mug handle will make it much easier to drink. Glass mugs are another good option for serving mulled wine.

However, there are special mulled wine glasses. These glasses are designed for serving mulled wine, and while the shape can vary slightly, they have handles, enabling you to hold the drink even when hot. They usually have a wide brim, making it easy to drink the wine despite the garnishes (orange slices, cinnamon sticks, etc.).

How to Keep Mulled Wine Warm

Mulled wine is fairly easy to prepare, though it is somewhat time-consuming. It’s always easier to make a large batch all at once, and simply keep it warm throughout the evening. But, when serving mulled wine to a large crowd, it’s easy to enjoy your evening and forget about the mulled wine.

You have three options for having eternally warm mulled wine throughout the evening:

Prepare it in the slow cooker – Preparing mulled wine in the slow cooker will take longer (up to 3 hours on the “Low” setting), but it will make it much easier to keep the wine warm. Simply leave it on “Low“ or “Warm”, and it will stay nice and warm all night long.
Pour it into a thermos – If you have a large enough thermos, you can keep the mulled wine on hand throughout the evening. The thermos will keep it nice and warm, and it will be easy to serve without having to go to the kitchen.
Re-heat it – If you make mulled wine in a pot, you can always put that pot back on the stove and re-heat the wine. As long as you don’t bring it to a boil, the flavour of the wine won’t be affected. You may lose a little of the alcohol punch, but you still get all the rich, spicy taste of your delicious mulled wine.