Name: Mulled Wine
Yield: Makes 12 servings
Ingredients: 20 whole cloves; 2 tangerines, clementines, or small oranges; 2 750-milliliter bottles Merlot; 3 cups fresh apple cider; 8 Lady apples (optional); 2 cinnamon sticks plus 8 for garnish (garnish optional); 2 green cardamom pods, cracked; 2 cups tawny Port

A dutch oven of mulled wine with floating apples cinnamon sticks and tangerines being ladled into cups

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi

This heady mulled wine recipe with citrus, fresh apple cider, and warm spices is festive enough for Christmas or other holiday parties, but easy enough to make on any cold winter evening you want to feel cozy. Any decent red wine like a cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, syrah, grenache will do, bit we recommend a merlot for its softness and fruit-forward flavors. Be sure not to let the mixture boil; the barest of simmers will coax plenty of flavor from the whole spices without cooking off all the alcohol.