I love a nice warm glass of mulled wine especially on these cold winter days, but what I didn’t know is that mulled wine is a regional thing.  I traditionally enjoyed a glass at the outdoor Christkindlmarket market in Chicago or Milwaukee and then started making my own to bring to holiday celebrations.  

And now, of course, I have kicked it up a notch and made the most amazing sparkling mulled wine recipe.  And quite honestly, I don’t think I can ever go back to drinking normal, regular mulled wine again. (No one is shocked by this, by the way!)

Mulled wine topped with sparkling red wine for the perfect bubbly drink.

What is Mulled Wine?

Mulled wine is basically red wine with spices that is served warm.  It is super popular around the holidays even thought Mulled Wine Day is March 3.  

While it’s super easy to make you will also find bottles of Glühwein already made at liquor stores, Trader Joe’s and even some wineries.  And if you don’t want to gather the ingredients, to make your own, these are great alternatives.  In fact, I usually have a bottle or two of these on stand-by when you want a glass of mulled wine in a pinch.

How to Make Mulled Wine

Of course, the easiest way is to go find a bottle of red spiced wine at the liquor store or your favorite winery.  

The next easiest way is to grab a fairly inexpensive bottle of red wine and mulling spices.  During the holidays you can find mulling spices at stores Crate and Barrel or Williams Sonoma.  And of course, all year long, you can find them on Amazon.  (We created a Mulled Wine list in the Amazon Bubbly Side of Life shop for you.)

Now if you’re going to grab mulling spices make sure you also have something to put the mulling spices in as they do not go straight into the wine. So you will need cheesecloth, spice bags or a stainless steel infuser ball to make this work.  

What Bottle of Red Wine Should I Buy?

People always ask what type of red wine they should buy for these types of recipes.  Here’s the thing, you don’t need an expensive bottle because you’ll be added the spices.  So, don’t take your most favorite bottle of red wine that you enjoy drinking on its own for this recipe. 

Easy to make mulled wine.

Typically, I lean toward a red blend or a Rioja when I am creating something like this.  And you can find lots of inexpensive red blends at any grocery or liquor store.  

Homemade Mulled Wine

The easiest way to make this homemade mulled wine is to put all of these ingredients into a crockpot and keep in on warm for at least 1 hour before serving.  If you don’t have a crockpot, don’t worry…just put it on the the stovetop with the lowest amount of heat and keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t boil.  

Homemade mulled wine

Ingredients:

  • Bottle of red wine
  • 2 Small oranges (cuties will work)
  • 4 Cloves
  • 1 Cinnamon stick
  • 1 T Anise stars or 1/2 T anise seeds (optional) (Seeds are more potent than stars)
  • 2 oz Brandy or Spiced rum (optional)
  • Sparkling Red Wine
  1. Cut oranges in half.  Poke cloves into the skin of the orange.
  2. Put Anise into a cheese cloth or spice bag.
  3. Pour wine into the pot.
  4. Add oranges, anise and cinnamon stick.
  5. Put on warm or low for at least 1 hour.  

Sparkling Mulled Wine

When you’re ready to serve, fill the mug about 1/2 way with the mulled wine and then top it off with a sparkling red wine and enjoy!

So, I had to experiment with this because you know my saying, “Bubbly makes everything better,” and I absolutely believe that to be true. 

Any everyone who has been making and taste testing this sparkling mulled wine recipes is in love!  So you need to try it and tell me what you think.

Now for the sparkling red wine part of it, I wrote about my most favorite sparkling red wines that I stock at Bubbly HQ all the time, so you can’t go wrong with any of these choices.  

Want more?

My other favorite warm drink creation that we, or course, bubbly-ized is the Sparkling Red Wine Hot Chocolate.  Oh boy is that a delicious dessert! 

Sparkling red wine hot chocolate.

My other favorite bubbly drink to make with red blends or Rioja is, of course, sangria.  And we have a few delicious winter version recipes:

Mulled wine is basically red wine with spices that is served warm. Learn how to make mulled wine at home with our mulled wine recipe! Learn how to buy the perfect red wine for a mulled wine. Create your perfect warm drink recipe here! | Mulled Wine | Sparkling Wine