My first weekend back I made for my roommate here. But here is the recipe again and I added the few adjustments I had to make because I couldn't find all the ingredients here that I had used in France.
In my terms, vin chaud or hot wine, is a lot like what we would call mulled wine in the States. Another way to describe it would be warm red sangria. It's basically the process of tossing spices, fruit, and wine in a pot and letting it simmer and absorb all the flavors. It's an incredibly popular holiday drink served in France and it really is perfect for those snowy, chilly days.
The recipe I use can be found here and I came across from a simple Google search. Obviously when they use such vague terms as "cloves" and "cardamon" I had to do some more Google-ing but eventually ended up buying red wine (remember you're drinking it so you want it to taste good), an orange, an apple, cinnamon sticks and anise pods which are shown below.
I cut up the fruit and toss it into a pot with the cinnamon sticks and a handful of anise pods and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes. A good indicator that everything has mingled well is if the fruit no longer floats and is sitting at the bottom of the pot. Some like to eat the fruit or put it into glasses served as garnishes but I personally don't because I find the fruit to be too potent after sitting with the spices.
Here are a few pictures of my vin chaud in the process...
The end result is a very sweet tasting, warm wine. You should approach it as if you're sipping hot tea, not chugging it like beer because it's so sweet it can hit you quite quickly since it goes down so easily.
A few variations that I have done:
-Not using an apple
-Using a bottle of rose wine along with red wine
-Using anise extract because I couldn't find the pods in the States
I hope you enjoy a little bit of France in your home during this chilly winter!
Love&Luck
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