BrummieWineGirl

There is a remarkable breakdown of taste and intelligence at Christmas time. Mature, responsible grown men wear neckties made of holly leaves and drink alcoholic beverages with raw egg yolks and cottage cheese in them.
— P. J. O’Rourke

Well, maybe not cottage cheese. We do like a nice mulled wine though. We’ve got through a few recipies here at Barnett HQ. This is our favourite from Jamie Oliver, which really does taste like Christmas. Except we put it to the test against a less faffy, throw-it-in- a-pan Aldi Glühwein (£4.99 for 1 litre).

I’ve chosen Aldi as I do think it gets a bad rap – they do some fantastic value wines (Prosecco for £5.99, Beernauslese for £5.99). The Jamie Oliver version costs over double, once you have purchased all the bits.

Jamie Oliver Recipe

• 2 clementines
• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• 200 g caster sugar
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 whole nutmeg, for grating
• 1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways
• 2 star anise
• 2 bottles Chianti or other Italian red wine

The method involves making a thick syrup first then adding in the rest of the wine to make a really rich wine.

(Image from Jamie Oliver's website - my attempt did not look this serene).

Aldi Glühwein

• Place entire bottle in pan
• Add in fruit (to make it look homemade and confuse the tasting panel)
• Ta daaa!

We served the Glühwein first as it was much sweeter than the stronger, richer Jamie Oliver recipie.

Jamie's  looks and smells more authentic, filling the house with cinnamon and cloves. But the Glühwein is sweeter and may be to more tastes. Or so I thought.

Jamie actually won with 10 votes to 6 – even though on first sip it knocked your socks off versus the Glühwein, it was ‘much more Christmassy’.  A couple of ABV % stronger I may add too. The smell was utterly divine and it is the best smelling mulled wine  - but takes a lot longer and if you have other stuff to do - Glühwein makes a nice replacement.

Thanks to our host +Richard Whillock who seemed to drink most of the wine... not bad for a non-drinker ;) 

Cheers!