Mulled wine - the spirit of Romanian winters
You may have already heard of the German "Gluhwein" - hot punch served everywhere in winter time in Germany and Austria. For French it is vin chaud whereas for English it is known as mulled wine. Its close relative is glogg or grog - a mixture of hot tea and rum, very common among sailors in the old times.Romanians, too, are huge fans of this alcoholic hot drink that we call "hot wine" or "boiled wine" and when the winter season begins it becomes our favourite beverage. :)
What exactly is hot wine and how do you prepare it? It is the easiest thing to do: all you need is red, rarely white wine, cinnamon, sugar, orange skin and apples. You can also add clove and nutmeg for flavor. Seething the wine is not actually the proper thing to do, otherwise you'll waste the alcohol in steams.
The condiments must be added when the wine is on the point of boiling in bubbles, and the sugar is added either in the beginning or gradually during boiling. You turn off the fire, and add the orange skin and the apples in small cubes, the cinammon and the rest of the spices. You cover the pot and leave it for 5-7 minutes, then poor the wine into cups and... drink it to the lees. :)
The ancestor of this flavored drink was backtraced in a Latin scholar's book: Apicius is the one who first noted in De Re Coquinaria a recipe that only slightly resembles what we nowadays prepare. At that time hot wine was made by mixing honey first with a little hot wine and some spices such as pepper, saffron and roast dates. The mixture was then added to a larger amount of cold red wine so that the result was a higly flavored but only slighlty heatened liqueur. Extremely appetizing!
Today we only use pepper when we make hot palinka - a traditional type of spirit like vodka, and we never use saffran or dates, but it is worth the try. :)
It is not wise to use expensive bottled wine because boiling levels all sort of alcoholic drinks. Romanians usually buy red wine "in bulks" from a wine cellar. Hot alcoholic drinks are very common among workers, especially during winter time to help them cope with the frost while working outside.
It is nonetheless a very pleasant way to spend cold afternoons inside with your family or friends when the hot wine replaces the more conformist tea. :) In Bucharest you can drink Romanian "gluhwein" in many places, we especially recommend: Mes Amis, Picasso and Hanu cu Tei.
