We all heard that “winter is coming”, but lo and behold it’s here and your bones have a little chill that the reverse cycle just can’t thaw.

There are quite a few styles out there: glühwein, gløgg, bisschopswijn, vin chaud, uentão… the list goes on. Everyone has a recipe for it, but if you break it down they all have a similar theme, and there are four simple ingredient types you’ll be wanting:

1. Citrus
2. Spices
3. Sugar
4. Red or fortified wine

After a few experiments, my prevailing advice is: keep it simple. The specific ingredients aren’t as important as the quantity and the quality. The more spices you add, the less it tastes like Christmas and the more like medicine. Also, don’t use wine you wouldn’t drink on its own. As the old adage goes, if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it.

So which wine to choose? Well, I might make the point here that everyone is different, in case you hadn’t noticed. Some have a sweet tooth, some like ginger, some hate vanilla, some like it spicy. And every wine is different too. So keeping that in mind, I’m not giving you a recipe. But I will give you the tools and the knowledge to make the best damn mulled wine you’ve ever had.

Pick a wine you like. Pick one that makes you think: “ooooh, a glass of that would be lovely, but if only it warmed me up that little bit more…” And not one that’s been sitting on the bench open for a week and tastes like grandma’s old stockings. If you use it for mulled wine it will just taste like grandma’s old stockings, warmed and spiced. Mmmm.

Since you’re using the good stuff, you want to keep as much of that flavour as possible, so use Jamie Oliver’s advice and make a ‘syrup’ first with just enough wine to cover whatever flavourants you choose, then just add the rest of the wine and heat through. The other advantage of this is that it retains more alcohol, which is an important part of any wine’s balance. So throw off the shackles of historical recipes, and using some basic guidelines, change the world with me, one wonderful mulled wine at a time! Here we go…

The KISS Mulled Vino Recipe

Some citrus (eg. orange, lemon, clementine)

Some spices (eg. cloves, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)

Some sugar (white is best)

A bottle of red or fortified wine 

This should be fun and not overthought (IE: don’t mull it over too much…), so I’m going to keep this simple, so you don’t have to keep looking at your iPad. After all, you’re over eighteen if you’re trying this, so I reckon you’ve got this.

Peel your chosen citrus, and add to a nice clean pan with the juice. Add your spices, remembering that less is often more. Add some sugar to taste. Barely cover with your selected wintry tipple. Now, bring to a boil and reduce to a lovely syrup*.

Add the rest of your wine to the syrup and heat through – don’t boil. Immediately ladle into your favourite heatproof drinking vessel, snuggle up on the couch in your slippers and pjs, and enjoy the wonderful warmth you’ve just created. It’s so good, you should name it and get it up on Instagram.

Show me your Magical Merlot Marsala and I’ll show you my Perfect Punjabi Pinot Punch.

*Pro tip: if you find yourself having more mulled vino than you expected (which you will), you can freeze the syrup for future use.

Citrus inspiration

Orange

Lemon

Lime

Clementine

Tangerine

Grapefruit

Blood orange

Australian finger lime

Anything else you can think of, and find in winter…

Spice inspiration

Cloves

Star anise

Cinnamon
Cardamom

Nutmeg

Ginger

Vanilla pod

Pepper

Galangal

Chilli

Bay leaf (the herb that thinks it’s a spice)

You could also try adding raisins (because everyone likes chunks in their drink), or substituting sugar for honey or maple syrup. Whatever you do, have fun, and enjoy your tasty newfound warmth.

Chris Coffey is head of content at Vinomofo.com.