Glögg: For Those Who Like Their Wine Hot and Spicy!

The mere talk about wine conjures up images of a magnificently colored alcoholic beverage served in the most elegant of stemware. Wine is a highly revered drink available in myriad of forms and one of the most important factors for enjoying wine is to serve it at an optimum temperature, specific for each type of wine. Ideally, wine should be served at room temperature (65° F) or lightly chilled to about 57° F or further chilled to 52° F depending upon the wine.

However, if you are the kind of person who likes everything hot and spicy rather than chilled and sweet then you will enjoy the mulled wine. Mulled wine preparation involves mostly red wine blended with spices and served hot. A practice that began in bygone days to make old wines that have turned bad palatable again with the addition of honey and spices is today popular in many European regions. No doubt, each region has its own variant to offer.

There are different names for mulled wine in different regions of Europe. In Nordic countries and Estonia, mulled wine is called glögg. The Germans call their mulled wine Glühwein, which means glowing wine. Vin chaud is the term used by the French for their mulled wine. This term when translated in English means hot wine. If you are in Italy, mulled wine will be known as vin brulé (burnt wine). The Polish refer to their mulled wine as Grzane Wino, the Slovaks call theirs Varené vino, and Hungarians have given the name Forralt bor to their mulled wine while the Russians use the word glintwein for mulled wine.

The glögg is an intriguing form of mulled wine. In Sweden, glögg is prepared by heating the red wine with food elements such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and sugar and sometimes even stronger spirits such as cognac, akvavit or vodka. Care is taken not to boil this mixture to avoid the alcohol from being evaporated. This preparation is particularly enjoyed during Christmas season with accompaniments such as almonds, raisins and splitters. Even gingerbread and lussekatter, a type of sweet bun consisting of saffron and raisins are relished with glögg.

For those who like a warm drink but chose to stay away from alcohol, the glögg can be heated in such a way to evaporate all the alcohol. Even replacement of wine with black currant juice is adopted to make the glögg alcohol-free. An easy way of preparing your very own glögg at home is to buy a bottle of ready-made glögg extract, which is flavored with spices and consists of fruit extracts. All you have to do is mix this with water and heat it to 60-70° C. Now go ahead and enjoy your very own glögg, hot and spicy like the way you want it.