Glühwein Will Give You A Glow

Glühwein, literally "glow wine," is German spiced wine (also called "mulled wine," in English), more common in winter and at Christmas time, as it is usually served hot. It is frequently sold at Christmas markets or Christmas events in German areas. Commonly made and served in German areas in Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Alsace. "Typically," it is made of red wine, but white wine is not totally uncommon, especially in some areas. Scandinavian countries also have a similar spiced drink, but the drink's base sometimes comes from other fruit juices, and the drink may include liquor. Americans drink spiced apple cider, which is something akin to the wine, but the American version is usually non alcohol cider; at least that's what I tell people (not that it isn't the truth, I swear!), but in the German state of Hessen, hard apple cider, known in standard German as "Appelwein," and in Hessian dialect by a number of regional variations, is used. "Glühwein" can take the chill out of winter and even make having a cold fun .... ahhhchooo! .....Gesundheit!   

Ingredients:

1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1 orange, juice + peel
1 lemon, juice + peel
1 bottle red wine (not sweet, I tend to use Cabernet Sauvignon)

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the water over medium heat. Turn down the heat to low and add the sugar, stirring to dissolve it. Add the cinnamon, the cloves, the orange juice and peel, the lemon juice and peel. Let simmer, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will form a nice syrup. Add the wine and heat through, stirring to mix. Serve hot. You can leave some peel in, as it looks and tastes good, but be careful of the cloves, you don't want to choke.  

WORD HISTORY:
Mull-There are several words of this spelling in English, some of which "may" be related.^ This form, used as "mull (something), usually wine," with the past tense form, "mulled," being more common in an adjectival usage, as "mulled wine," or "mulled cider," to mean, "heated wine with sweetener and spices." It "seems" to go back to Indo European "melg," which meant "to rub, to stroke," and is what you do to get milk from a cow or goat. The stroking process then became the word (noun) for the actual product, "milk" (the same form gave the Germanic languages, including English, their forms for "milk"). This gave Latin "mulgere," with the meaning, "to milk," which then gave Latin "mulctra," meaning, "milk pail." This was borrowed by the Germanic dialects of northwestern Europe as "molde," but with the same meaning; although, that meaning began to broaden to "trough," and later also to a more general word for a container, but then more specifically to a container for beer. Low German lost the "d" sound, which left "Molle." ^^ English "apparently" borrowed the word from Low German or Flemish, as both had forms of the word. The idea of heating a liquid with added flavorings would have easily applied to wine.

^ "To mull over;" that is, to think something over, to ponder," may be a figurative use of a verb form "mull," meaning "to grind into a powder." 
 

^^ Low German speakers were the main group of Germans to settle Berlin. While standard German (based on High German dialect) began to overtake the Low German of Berlin, it never completely displaced the Low German, and Berlin dialect, Berlinerisch, remains a dialect of High German, but with many Low German characteristics and vocabulary, including "Molle," meaning "a glass of beer." In Berlin, the term, "Mollenfriedhof" literally means, "cemetery for glasses of beer," but it really is the term for, "beer belly," a true cemetery for glasses of beer.