Coma drinking is out: Non-alcoholic mulled wine is flopping
18.12.2024
Translation: machine translated
At my last raclette night, I served alcohol-free mulled wine - to the displeasure of some of those involved. I'll show you how I made the mulled wine and why it didn't go down well.
Mulled wine is delicious and drinkable. As a result, you get drunk very quickly and the headache the day after is all the more severe. As part of my series "Binge drinking is out", I am replacing the most important ingredient in mulled wine with non-alcoholic red wine and trying to create an alternative to the original.
Spoiler: The attempt backfired.
Simply replaced
In my search for the non-alcoholic hot drink, I found many things, but nothing that came close to mulled wine. Instead, most of the instructions described something more reminiscent of a punch or tea. So I had a brilliant idea: I could simply take an existing recipe and replace the red wine with non-alcoholic Sangre de Toro, which I recently received as a gift from a friend. Brilliant!
So I opted for the recipe from Fooby. I've made this with real wine before and it's always tasted great. The procedure is simple. Heat all the ingredients in a pan, stirring constantly, then leave to infuse for ten minutes and the concoction is ready.
Ingredients
- 7 ½ dl strong red wine (I replace this with non-alcoholic)
- 50 g raw sugar
- 1 organic orange, halved, in slices
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 2 Sternanise
- 3 Cardamom pods, seeds removed
- 1 msp. nutmeg
Sangre de Toro - can it do anything?
Next spoiler: Not really. It doesn't knock my socks off, but it's drinkable. I'm obviously in the minority with this assessment. Because I search for other opinions in the Vivino app and realise that the majority of the Vivino community see things very differently. User "Andrew Consterdine", for example, recommends drinking water rather than this wine.
Source: Screenshot: vivino.com
Most people mention a cherry note, but above all that the Sangre de Toro 0.0 tastes more like bad grape juice than wine. This is probably the reason why I, as a rare red wine drinker, find it okay in the taste test.
Source: Stefanie Lechthaler
You can make unsweetened grape juice - but you don't have to. For self-proclaimed wine sommeliers, non-alcoholic red wine is nothing. However, those who are satisfied with the memory of wine and still can't keep their hands off it will find a reasonably acceptable alternative in "Sangre de Toro".
Is it at least enough for mulled wine?
You already know the answer. I taste the mulled wine while it's boiling and find it a little bitter. It tastes less intense than the alcoholic version.
But I can still taste a hint of red wine. Just fine for me.
Source: Stefanie Lechthaler
During dinner, my glance round shows me that this was definitely not something my friends had been waiting for. It was too bitter and not particularly tasty. It's nice to have such honest people in my life. After everyone has left, a second glance at the almost full aluminium cups shows me that it wasn't something I'll be serving up a second time.
Do you know a recipe for a non-alcoholic alternative to mulled wine that doesn't taste like tea or punch? Write it in the comments
Header image: Stefanie Lechthaler
Painting the walls just before handing over the flat? Making your own kimchi? Soldering a broken raclette oven? There's nothing you can't do yourself. Well, perhaps sometimes, but I'll definitely give it a try.
Food
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