Our Guide To Making Vegan Mulled Wine

Mulled wine is a classic, well-known alcoholic drink. With fruity aromas and hints of sweet honey, mulled wine is the perfect drink to warm you up during the colder months. Orange, lemon, cinnamon and apple are all additional flavours that can also be found in mulled wine.

Heated with sugar and spices, mulled wine is often served during winter, especially across the Christmas period. If you want to get creative and make your own mulled wine this winter, follow on to find out how.

The History of Mulled Wine

Mulled wine, also known as gluhwein in German, first came about in the second century by the Romans, who would heat their wine up in order to aid their bodies against the cold. As the popularity of mulled wine grew throughout the years, people began to mix their mulled wine with spices, believing it would promote health.

As more developments of mulled wine came about, it started to become a global phenomenon - countries across the world added their own ingredients and blends of various spices. The biggest turning point for mulled wine came in the early 1890s when the drink first got associated with Christmas.

Is All Mulled Wine Vegan?

The ingredients in mulled wine such as the oranges, lemon, cinnamon, spices and sugar are all vegan-friendly, but the red wine might not be. For most people, finding out that red wine isn’t vegan can come as a shock. Unfortunately, a lot of winemakers still use animal products during the fining process, which is ultimately what makes a lot of wines unsuitable for vegans.

Fermentation is the process of natural sugars converting into alcohol. A cloudy appearance can be seen in wine if you leave any unwanted molecules, and for many vintners, they want their end product to look perfect. Although there’s nothing wrong with drinking unfiltered wine, many believe that appearance has to be to a certain standard.

Non-vegan fining agents include bone marrow, milk protein, egg whites, fish oil, isinglass and gelatin, all of which are widely used by many vintners to filter unwanted particles that gather at the bottom of their wine.

What is the Fining Process?

Fining is the process that winemakers go through to remove unwanted particles that collect in the barrels when they make wine. Many avid wine drinkers prefer vegan wine, as they believe that the flavour, aromas and overall taste of wine that’s been through the fining process get ruined.

When you put your wine through the fining process, you’re basically using different animal-based ingredients to help remove leftover tannins. Whether it's red, white or rosé, fining wine is not a necessary requirement and doesn’t contribute anything other than a more aesthetically pleasing appearance.

At ThinK Wine, we want everyone to be able to enjoy a glass of wine after a busy week, which is why we’ve decided to make all our products completely vegan and organic. Using natural ingredients such as pea protein, we don’t believe that wine requires the use of animal-derived ingredients.

How to Make Vegan Mulled Wine

At ThinK Wine, we’ve conducted the best vegan mulled wine recipe. Enjoy during the winter or autumn months and share with family and friends - we’re sure that everyone will want to have their share of this popular alcoholic beverage.

Vegan mulled wine can be made with many low-cost ingredients that can be bought at your local supermarket, such as Aldi. All you’ll need to make vegan mulled wine is one bottle of top-quality vegan red wine, 100 grams of sugar, two cinnamon sticks, a pinch of nutmeg, two oranges, one lemon, four cloves and a vanilla pod, which is optional. Follow along to read through our method of making vegan mulled wine.

Method

• In a medium-sized saucepan, add one whole bottle of quality vegan red wine, and let simmer for a few minutes. Mix in 100 grams of sugar and use a large utensil to mix the two together, waiting for the sugar to completely dissolve before going on to the next step.

• Sprinkle in a small amount of nutmeg for added flavour, but be careful not to add too much, as this could sabotage the taste. Once you’ve added your nutmeg, place two cinnamon sticks in the pan and let it sit for a while longer, giving the wine a chance to absorb the flavour properly.

• Over your pan, grate a small amount of zest from two oranges and add them in whole (peeling them both beforehand). After adding in the flesh of two oranges, slice one lemon and scatter them into the pan.

• Add in four cloves and a vanilla pod, which is optional. After adding all of your ingredients to your pan, let it sit for around 25 minutes whilst making sure your wine doesn’t boil. If you’d prefer to use an alternative way to make your vegan mulled wine, you could use a slow cooker, following the same simple steps and let it sit for an hour and a half.

• Using a spoon, test your mulled wine and see if it tastes how you want it to. If you feel like a certain flavour is lacking, just add it in and let simmer for a few extra minutes. Once complete, strain out the fruits and serve in a heatproof glass and garnish with an orange peel, cinnamon sticks and some star anise.

How to Find Vegan Red Wine

If you’re vegan, then you’re probably used to scanning through endless ingredient lists on the back of labels to make sure no animal products have been used. We think that wine should always be vegan, but unfortunately, this isn’t the case - making it even harder for vegans to choose the right bottle of wine from the shop shelf.

The easiest way to find out whether your wine is vegan is by checking the back of the label and looking out for a certified vegan label. The Vegan Society is a registered, trademark business that’s used by many companies across the world to show that their products are 100% vegan-friendly and free of animal products.

If you see a certified vegan label on the back of a bottle of wine, you can be sure that it will definitely be suitable for those who have adopted a vegan diet.

Festive Alternatives to Mulled Wine

Although many people love to relax with a warm glass of mulled wine during the Christmas season, some people prefer to pour themselves a glass of something more simplistic, like Pinot Grigio, rosé or Prosecco.

Prosecco is another well-known variation of wine that’s enjoyed during the festive periods. At ThinK Wine, we provide our customers with low-calorie, organic Rosé and Prosecco. Our products are made with luxury in mind, and with all our products being 100% vegan-friendly, you’ll be able to share a bottle with whomever you want, regardless of their dietary requirements.

Christmas can be a time when people like to indulge in rich foods, so don’t worry about having the added guilt that often comes with drinking alcohol. With just 62 calories and 0.5 grams of residual sugar per 100ml of our Prosecco, you can rest assured that you’re making a healthy decision whilst you're still enjoying a drink.

Whether you want to buy a gift for someone, or simply want to test our wine for yourself before committing to a full-sized bottle, be sure to browse our mini collection. If you need any more information on our products, feel free to email a member of our team.