Vin Brulé: The Italian Mulled Wine Recipe

Mulled wine gets treated as one thing in the UK, a single recipe everyone roughly knows, heavy on cinnamon and served from a vat at the nearest Christmas market. Italy has its own version, vin brulé, and it is lighter, more orange-forward, and a good deal less stewed than the over-spiced version many people are used to.

Here is what actually separates it, a proper recipe, and why the wine you choose matters more than the spice rack.

What Makes Vin Brulé Different From Mulled Wine

The name translates literally as burnt wine, which is a slightly dramatic way of describing wine warmed gently with spices and citrus, never allowed to boil. Where British and German mulled wine recipes often lean heavily on cinnamon and nutmeg to the point of tasting more like dessert than wine, vin brulé tends to keep the spice lighter and lets orange do more of the work, with cloves and star anise supporting rather than dominating.

Some versions add a small measure of grappa at the end, off the heat, which lifts the aroma, though it does make the drink stronger. It is a small addition but a genuinely Italian one, and worth trying if you want the drink to taste a little more distinctly like something from an Italian Christmas market rather than a British one.

The Real Vin Brulé Recipe

Ingredients (serves four)

• 1 bottle of medium-bodied Italian red wine
• 1 orange, zested in wide strips and juiced
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 star anise
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar or honey, to taste
• Optional: a small measure of grappa, added off the heat

Method

Combine the orange juice, orange zest, sugar and spices in a large saucepan with a splash of the wine, and bring gently to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved. Add the rest of the bottle and warm through slowly over a low heat, keeping it at a bare simmer and well below boiling, since boiling cooks off the alcohol and can turn the wine bitter.

Let it sit on the lowest possible heat for ten to fifteen minutes so the spices properly infuse, then strain into heatproof glasses or mugs. If using grappa, stir a small measure through each glass just before serving rather than adding it to the pan.

Choosing the Right Red Wine for Vin Brulé

You do not need an expensive bottle for this, but you do need the right style. A medium-bodied Italian red with soft tannins and decent fruit, something like a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or a straightforward Chianti, holds up well to warming and sweetening without losing its character entirely. A wine that is already delicate or prized for its subtlety is the wrong choice here; warming and spicing will flatten exactly the qualities that make it worth drinking on its own.

If you want to understand more about why a wine like Montepulciano d’Abruzzo works so well for this, our guide to it explains what makes it a genuinely good everyday red, on its own or warmed through with oranges and spice.

Why Simmering Low and Slow Matters

Gentle heat is the whole technique: warming the wine slowly lets the spices and orange infuse, whereas rushing the pan to a rolling boil drives off alcohol and aroma and leaves a flatter, harsher drink.

A sugar thermometer is not necessary, but a reliable visual check is: tiny bubbles forming slowly around the edge of the pan with no real movement in the centre means you are in the right range. A full, rolling boil with steam pouring off the pan means you have gone too far, and the alcohol, along with a good deal of the aroma, is already escaping into the kitchen rather than staying in the glass.

Making It Ahead for a Party

Vin brulé scales up easily into a big batch for a party, and it actually improves slightly for sitting an hour before serving, which makes it a genuinely practical drink to make ahead rather than stand over at the stove while guests are arriving. Make the full recipe in a large pot an hour or two before people arrive, strain out the spices and citrus once it has infused properly, then keep it on the lowest possible heat or reheat gently in batches as the evening goes on.

Avoid leaving it on direct heat for hours at a time even on the lowest setting, since prolonged, gentle cooking still gradually cooks off aroma and alcohol. A slow cooker on its warm setting, checked occasionally, is a more forgiving way to hold a large batch over a longer party than a saucepan left on the hob.

Common Mistakes People Make

• Letting it boil: this cooks off the alcohol, concentrates the sugar too far, and can turn the wine bitter rather than warm and rounded
• Overloading the spices: more cinnamon is not automatically better, and a heavy hand turns the drink closer to mulled cordial than wine
• Using the cheapest bottle on the shelf: a genuinely poor, sour wine does not improve with sugar and heat, it just becomes warm and sour
• Serving it too hot: vin brulé should be warm enough to be comforting, not so hot it burns the first sip and masks the flavour entirely

A Note on Leftovers

If you end up with vin brulé left over after a party, it keeps reasonably well in the fridge for a day or two, strained and sealed in a jug or bottle. Reheat it gently rather than in the microwave on full power, since uneven heating can scorch the sugar at the edges of the container before the centre has properly warmed through.

Vin Brulé’s Place at Divino This Christmas

We should be honest about this rather than overstate it: vin brulé itself is not on Divino’s drinks list as a poured serve. The closest thing on the menu is in the festive menu’s dessert course, a vanilla panna cotta finished with a mulled wine berry compote, which carries the same warm spice and dark fruit character into a proper restaurant dish rather than a mug. If that sounds appealing, the full festive menu is covered here.

For the home version, our wine list is a useful reference even if you are buying the bottle elsewhere, since it gives a sense of which Italian reds sit in the right weight and style for warming. And if you would rather have someone else do the cooking entirely this December, a table is easy enough to book.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between vin brulé and mulled wine?

They are close cousins. Vin brulé is the Italian version of mulled wine, and it tends to use lighter spicing and more orange than the heavier cinnamon-forward style common in British and German mulled wine, and sometimes includes a small measure of grappa.

What wine is best for vin brulé?

A medium-bodied Italian red with soft tannins and good fruit, such as a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or a straightforward Chianti. Avoid anything delicate or expensive, since warming and spicing flattens subtlety.

Can you make vin brulé without alcohol?

Yes, by substituting a good-quality alcohol-free red wine and following the same method, though the flavour will be noticeably lighter without the structure alcohol gives the finished drink.

Does Divino serve mulled wine or vin brulé?

Not as a poured drink on the current menu. The festive menu does include a mulled wine berry compote as part of one of the dessert options.

Why shouldn’t you boil wine when making vin brulé?

Boiling cooks off much of the alcohol, over-concentrates the sugar, and can turn the wine bitter. Keep it at a gentle simmer or below throughout.