How to make bad wine taste good

There are few things more satisfying than a glass of high quality wine. The delight of a smooth round full bodied red that doesn't leave the slightest hint of vinegar in your mouth is simply magic. On a tight povo budget though, a $25 bottle of wine may be a luxury that's hard to afford. Especially if you have a tendency to over indulge once you get started. That's where mulled wine comes in handy (...and there's the iced white wine conversion trick too...but I'll talk about that in a bit)

Mulled Wine
Typically mulled wine is red wine heated with sugar, spices and citrus fruit. There are many traditional variations but most commonly the beverage is made with red wine, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sugar and sliced oranges.

I have tried several recipes including the standard one and I can honestly say I have never witnessed such a dramatic, almost alchemical, conversion. I've made mulled wine with cheap and nasty wine and with good quality wine and have noticed the end result is pretty much the same... simply AMAZING, especially if you hand grate a nutmeg as part of the process. I've made mulled wine with the cheapest bottle of red I could find ($4.95 sacred hill*) and created a rich, full bodied, round, lovely, spicy, warm and delightful alcoholic beverage. Of course the spices and fruit cost money too but they are a fraction of the cost of buying a good quality bottle of red.

But maybe you prefer white? Then read on...

Iced White Wine (with a splash of water)
If you've never done this before, it might sound ridiculous but trust me, putting ice in wine with a little bit of cold water completely transforms an awful bottle. I came across this by accident one summer at a BBQ when the fridge was way too packed to fit another wine bottle in. They had an ice machine in the front of their fridge so I decided to improvise. Low on cash that week I'd bought a cheap clean skin on the way, hoping I might have got lucky with a decent wine in a generic bottle. But no, one sniff of the bottle and I realised it was a shocker so I decided to add a splash of water as well to take the edge off. Surprisingly the taste reminded me of a lovely crisp sav blanc that I'd had at a restaurant the week before. When the ice had completely melted it was even better. Shocked, but pleasantly delighted, I tried it out on a few friends to see what they thought. The vote was unanimous: ice and water adds about $10 of value to the bottle **.

I tested this out again and again with different cheap brands (even sacred hill white*) with the same positive result. The other thing I realised about watering down the wine a little bit is that, it's less alcoholic so it's easier to drink sensibly in moderation! It's a bit like drinking light beer.

Moral of the story:

LESS expensive wine + spice or water and ice = a happy alchemist with MORE money in the bank.

*Note: Usually there is nothing sacred about Sacred Hill wine. Although if you follow my instructions you might start believing in magic.

**For best results leave the ice to melt for a few minutes before drinking!