Mulled red wine — cinnamon, clove, star anise, orange peel, sugar — heated to 70°C, never boiled. Christmas-market staple.
Mulling wine traces to Roman conditum paradoxum (Apicius, 1st century AD); the modern French Christmas-market vin chaud crystallized with the 19th-century revival of marchés de Noël in Strasbourg, Colmar, and the Alsace circuit. Now ubiquitous in any French winter market.
Strasbourg's Christkindelsmärik (running since 1570) is the largest French Christmas market and ground zero for Alsatian vin chaud — local producers like Wolfberger sell hot-wine kits. In Alsace some versions use Pinot Noir or Gewürztraminer (vin chaud blanc) instead of southern reds.
Deep ruby, steaming, ABV around 8-10% (some alcohol cooks off). Cinnamon and clove forward, orange in the back, sugar tames the wine's tannin. Served in 200 mL paper or ceramic cups, hand-warming. Drink while still hot — turns medicinal cold.
Hold below 78°C — ethanol's boiling point — to keep the alcohol; below boiling also stops tannin from going harsh. Use cheap, fruit-forward wine (Côtes du Rhône, Beaujolais), not aged Burgundy — heat ruins delicate aromatics. Steep spices 15-20 minutes; longer goes bitter from clove.
Variations
Vin chaud rouge (the standard, Côtes du Rhône or Beaujolais base); Vin chaud blanc (Alsatian, with Riesling or Gewürztraminer); Vin chaud d'Alsace (heavier on clove and orange, sometimes with eau-de-vie); Hypocras (medieval ancestor, served cold, with ginger and grains of paradise).
On the Palate
Where Vin Chaud sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 1How it's made
4 steps · 26 min
- 13 min
Combine 1 bottle (750 ml) red wine + 100 g sugar + 1 orange sliced + 1 lemon sliced in a pot.
- 21 min
Add 2 cinnamon sticks + 4 cloves + 2 star anise + 1 vanilla pod.
- 312 min
Warm gently to 70 °C — DO NOT BOIL or alcohol burns off.
Watch outWarm gently to 70 degrees and hold — never let it boil, or the alcohol cooks off and the tannin turns harsh.
- 410 min
Hold at 70 °C 10 min to infuse; ladle into mugs with a citrus slice.
