Winter Wine We Love

Photo by Youngna Park

Winter mulled wine recipe with Fonseca Terra Bella porto

Featured item: JAN 7, 2008

We have our comfort foods; call this comfort booze. Lovely to sip around a fire with close friends in the dead of winter, mulled wine is both soulful and social.

Warm yourself to organic ingredients, from tangerines and honey produced without chemical insecticides or pesticides to Fonseca Terra Bella—an organic porto that is just hitting stateside. Get some if you can!

All across England, Germany, and the Nordic nations of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, winter is marked with hot, spiced and sweetened red wine. Like sangria in southern Europe, mulled wine is not only delicious, but also traditionally a great way to stretch wines that may no longer be suitable for simply quaffing at the dinner table. Some countries like Sweden add nuts to their mulled wine (called Glögg), others hard liquor like brandy. To add a new twist to mulled wine, I propose adding Porto, or port, one of my favorite winter beverages, giving high alcohol content, and rich flavor and aroma. Fonseca Terra Bella Porto, the first organic, authentic Portuguese Porto—produced from Fonseca Guimaraens, one of Oporto, Portugal's classic port houses—is now available nationally in the U.S. Sip, don't guzzle, and cheers! Tell us what your favorite mid-winter drink is in the comments box below—we'd love to know.—Michael Green

Port-Infused Mulled Wine

Ingredients:
2 bottles of inexpensive dry red wine
1 cup (8 oz.) Fonseca organic Porto
4 tablespoons organic honey
3 organic tangerines
Small handful of cloves
Large pinch of nutmeg, freshly ground
4 sticks cinnamon
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Utensils:
Large pot
Ladle
Zester or grater

1. Add red wine, porto and honey to pot and bring to low simmer. Stick cloves into tangerines like a pin cushion and add to the pot along with nutmeg, cinnamon, and half the lemon zest and raisins. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until mulled wine becomes powerfully aromatic.

2. To serve, ladle into mugs and garnish with raisins, a pinch of lemon zest, and a cinnamon stick.

Note: If you live in Alabama, Arkansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania or Utah, you'll need to practice patience regarding your organic porto as only Colorado retailers carry it at the moment, and they can't ship to your state. If you live in any other state, you can contact to following Colorado retailers to see if they'll ship to you: Grapes and Grain in Aspen, 970-925-8600; and Argonaut Wine in Denver, 303-831-7788. Please watch this space: As soon as we get more helpful information, we will pass it along to you.