A few years ago I was introduced to Mulled Wine and it was love at first sip. Now this was a bit of a big deal for me because I am not a frequent wine drinker, and second if I do drink wine, I prefer whites such as Sauvignon Blanc and/or Pinot Grigio.  But there was something about the perfect combination of warm red wine, spices and fruits that totally stimulated my taste buds. Fast forward to about a month ago when we went to my friends Allison and Erik’s place. Allison put me in charge of helping her make mulled wine. We used a premixed package of spices that she had and then overcame a few more challenges and in the end we made a mighty good mulled wine. This whole experience and subsequent posts on Pinterest inspired me to start experimenting to make a Persianized version of mulled wine.

I knew from the very beginning that my wine of choice had to be a fruity Shiraz wine. I feel a bit of resentment towards those who have changed the pronunciation of this wine to Syrah. I feel like they are taking away from the original place from which the grapes for this type of wine came from which is the city of Shiraz in Southern Iran. While at my local Trader Joe’s I was helped by one of the folks in the wine section who gave me a quick history of who is responsible for the name change. Apparently, the pronunciation changed at some point in the 1800s when the grapes were first brought to Australia.

Now, onto the recipe. I finally came up with a winning combination of flavors after a few tries. The best thing about this type of combination is that you don’t have to buy expensive wine. In fact, the one that I purchased was an inexpensive TJ’s brand named Costal.

Ingredients

2 cups pomegranate seeds
8 cardamom pods
6 cloves
1 orange
2 sticks cinnamon
2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup honey
1 bottle of fruity Shiraz wine


To a pot add pomegranate seeds, peel from orange pierced by cloves, lightly crushed cardamom pods, and cinnamon sticks.

Add apple cider, cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Add honey and continue to gently simmer for 10 minutes.

Add red wine, give it a gentle stir, cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes longer.  That’s pretty much it! Serve mulled wine in mugs or Persian tea cups. Enjoy! This recipe makes about 6 to 8 cups of mulled wine depending on the size of the cups in which they are served.

With Sabeh Yalda and the Holidays coming up this is great drink to serve to your guests!