Germany's quintessential Christmas-market mulled wine: red wine gently warmed with cinnamon, cloves, star anise, citrus, and sugar. Served steaming hot in collectible mugs, it is inseparable from the German Weihnachtsmarkt experience.
A central feature of German Christmas markets, Glühwein is a mulled wine traditionally drunk during the German-speaking world's Advent and Christmas season, spiced and served hot.
Warm, fragrant, and gently sweet, with red wine carrying waves of cinnamon, clove, and bright citrus peel. It glows in the chest on a cold market evening.
Keeping the wine below a boil preserves its alcohol and delicate aromatics while heat coaxes the fat-soluble spice compounds and citrus oils into the liquid.
Variations
White wine Glühwein, alcohol-free Kinderpunsch, with a Schuss of rum or amaretto, Feuerzangenbowle with flaming rum sugar
On the Palate
Where Glühwein sits in the German flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 5 min
- 12 min
Pour red wine into a pot and add sugar to taste.
- 23 min
Stud orange and lemon slices and add them to the wine.
- 31 min
Add cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and star anise.
- 410 min
Warm the mixture gently over low heat without letting it boil.
Watch outKeep it steaming with no bubbles breaking the surface — once it boils you cook off the alcohol and the fresh aromatics.
- 520 min
Let it steep below a simmer so the spices infuse the wine.
Watch outHold it just below a simmer and give the spices time — the flavour comes from patient steeping, not high heat.
- 62 min
Taste and adjust the sweetness and spice balance.
- 72 min
Strain out the spices and citrus before serving.
- 82 min
Ladle hot into mugs, optionally with a shot of rum for a Schuss.
