Mulled wine Bellini

I can take no credit for this most amazing of cocktails and only a crazy person would consider tweaking with the mulled wine Bellini recipe, because it’s already absolute perfection – that’s largely because it’s from the genius of Marcus Wareing who serves it up at The Gilbert Scott.

Of all the Christmas ‘dishes’ I make, mulled wine Bellini is the one that everyone asks me to repeat and although it makes what might seem a large 40-50 portions, take my advice and make a double batch, because they’ll go in record time!  No one has ever stopped at one glass! Not only is it just about the best cocktail you’ll ever enjoy, it makes the house smell so wonderfully Christmassy that you’ll contemplate having this bubbling away on the stove over the entire festive period!  I also buy a few small preserving bottles as it makes a great Christmas gift and as it lasts for up to a month, you can get cracking long before the festive madness begins!

Ingredients

Mulled Wine

• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 15 black peppercorns
• 20 star anise
• 1 pinch of mace
• nutmeg
• 1 orange, juiced and peeled in strips
• 3½ pints / 2 litres red wine
• 1 handful of cloves
• 17½ ounces / 500g caster sugar

Cocktail (per serving)

• 5½ tablespoons / 100ml sparkling wine (such as Nyetimber Classic Cuvee)
• around 1 teaspoon / 5-10ml lemon juice, to taste

Method

Keep back the sugar but add everything else to a saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.

Now add the sugar and continue simmering until the liquid has reduced by half.

Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Strain the liquid. You can pour it into clean, sterilised bottles and keep for around a month if you wish, or use immediately. The quantity here will make around 40-50 cocktails so you may not need it all at once!

To create the cocktail,  pour the sparkling wine into a champagne flute, then add 1½ tablespoons / 25ml of the mulled wine. Stir in about 1 teaspoon / 5-10ml of lemon juice, to taste, and serve.

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