12/19/05 Monday question - Hot spiced wines

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. On today's program, we are answering questions from the email. Every year we get the question asking for a quote "good recipe for hot spiced wine". Holiday hot spiced wine is something that I am not certain is ever really very good. But I have seen a few interesting recipes, most of them using white wine rather than red. The recipes do not include those bags of pre mixed spices. What I recommend is taking a good quality white wine  maybe a Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer or Riesling. Use drier or sweeter styles depending on your preference. Add juices of your choice- orange and cranberry or raspberry, even tropical juices are good. Add to that some cloves, cinnamon sticks and a star anise or two. Warm them up and have a taste. If it is not to your taste sweeten it or adjust juices or the seasonings a little at a time. It may sound like an unconventional hot spiced wine but it is much nicer than that crock pot filled with hot wine punch made from cheap tannic red wine. You know - the beverage that no one drinks. Keep it simple and make it with things that you like. That way you will have a spiced wine that you really want to drink. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.