Mulled wine

Every drink at a glance

Per mug as written below. A standard drink is 14 g of alcohol. Tap a drink for its recipe.

1. Mulled wineper mug, serves 6 173 11g 1.17
2. Wassailper mug, serves 12 146 16g 0.67
3. Glühweinper mug, serves 5 157 8.4g 1.13
4. Glöggper mug, serves 8 145 8.8g 1.04
5. Mulled ciderper mug, serves 8 152 18g 0.67
6. Non-alcoholic mulled wineper mug, serves 6 89 20g 0
7. Mulled white wineper mug, serves 6 139 11g 0.85

Mulled wine recipes, with the math

Each recipe makes one pot; the numbers are per mug, the pot divided by its servings. Red wine is USDA's dry red table wine at 13.4%, white wine is 12%, and spirits are 80 proof. Spices, peel and fruit slices are not counted.

Does the alcohol cook off mulled wine?

Only slowly, and never all of it. USDA's retention factors, measured for alcohol simmered into food, keep 40% after 15 minutes and still 5% after two and a half hours. Here is one mug of the classic after each stretch on a simmer:

• Counted on this page: all of it173 cal per mug 100% 16g 1.17 173
• Simmered 15 minutes104 cal per mug 40% 6.5g 0.47 104
• Simmered 30 minutes99 cal per mug 35% 5.7g 0.41 99
• Simmered 1 hour87 cal per mug 25% 4.1g 0.29 87
• Simmered 2 hours70 cal per mug 10% 1.6g 0.12 70
• Simmered 2½ hours64 cal per mug 5% 0.8g 0.06 64

Source: USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6 (2007). Alcohol is the classic's 16 g per mug times the share left; calories drop by 7 for each gram that leaves.

Two things keep more in your mug than the table suggests. The wine recipes here warm the pot until it steams without letting it bubble, which is gentler than the simmer USDA measured, though we found no study that measures how much gentler. And the brandy goes in at the end, after the heating: USDA puts alcohol added to a hot liquid off the heat at 85% retained. So every number on this page counts all of the alcohol, the safer assumption. Even after an hour on a simmer, a mug still holds 4.1 g, about 0.29 of a standard drink. For none at all, make the non-alcoholic version.

How strong is mulled wine?

About as strong as the wine it is made from. The classic's juice and honey dilute the wine and the brandy tops it back up, landing at 12.8%. Glögg adds a spirit and runs stronger than wine; the cider drinks are closer to beer. One US standard drink is 14 g of pure alcohol, the amount in a 12 oz beer or a 5 oz glass of 12% wine (NIAAA).

• Beer 12 oz is 1 standard drink 5.0%
• Mulled cider 0.67 standard drinks per 7 oz mug 5.7%
• Wassail 0.67 standard drinks per 6.5 oz mug 6.2%
• Mulled white wine 0.85 standard drinks per 5.7 oz mug 8.9%
• Wine 5 oz is 1 standard drink 12.0%
• Mulled wine 1.17 standard drinks per 5.5 oz mug 12.8%
• Glühwein 1.13 standard drinks per 5.2 oz mug 13.0%
• Glögg 1.04 standard drinks per 3.8 oz mug 16.2%

A warm mug goes down easily and a pot on the stove invites refills, so pace it like any other drink. Eat first, since food slows how fast alcohol is absorbed, stay near one drink an hour, about what the body can process, and have water between mugs (Cleveland Clinic). A mug of the classic is 1.17 standard drinks, so two mugs are 2.33.

Mulled wine calories: the wine, the brandy and the honey

The wine carries most of it, and most of the wine's calories are alcohol. Per mug of the classic, 106 calories come from the wine, 22 from the brandy, 35 from the honey (8.6 g of sugar) and 10 from the orange juice.

• Dry red wine106 cal
• Brandy22 cal
• Honey35 cal
• Orange juice10 cal

Which sweetener

The same classic pot, with each sweetener in place of the 3 tbsp of honey. Sugar is the easiest lever: with none at all, a mug still has 2.5 g from the wine and orange juice, and 138 calories.

• 3 tbsp honey (the classic) 173 11g
• 3 tbsp maple syrup 165 8.5g
• ¼ cup granulated sugar 171 11g
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar 163 8.7g
• 1½ tbsp honey 155 6.8g
• No sweetener 138 2.5g

Honey, maple syrup and sugar from USDA FoodData Central by their own spoon weights (honey 21 g, maple syrup 20 g and granulated sugar 12.5 g per tablespoon). The non-alcoholic version is the sweetest drink on the page, 20 g a mug, all from the grape and orange juice. For the bottles themselves, see lowest calorie alcohol and lowest sugar alcohol.

The best wine for mulled wine, by the numbers

Any dry red works, and there is little point in an expensive bottle once sugar and spice go in. By USDA's analysis, dry reds carry 2.31 to 2.86 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so the grape barely changes the calories. What it does change is strength. Each row is the classic pot made with that wine, lowest alcohol first.

• Gamay (Beaujolais) USDA 171872 Not rated 2.38g 12.3% 164 1.09
• Pinot Noir USDA 174835 · Hangover Index 6/10
  6/10
  2.31g 13.1% 169 1.15
• Syrah USDA 174836 Not rated 2.58g 13.2% 171 1.15
• Cabernet Sauvignon USDA 174833 · Hangover Index 8/10
  8/10
  2.6g 13.2% 171 1.15
• Merlot USDA 171925 · Hangover Index 7/10
  7/10
  2.51g 13.4% 172 1.16
• Sangiovese USDA 174839 Not rated 2.62g 13.7% 175 1.19
• Zinfandel USDA 173192 Not rated 2.86g 14.0% 178 1.21

ABV and carbohydrate are USDA's lab averages for each varietal; your bottle's label is the better guide to its strength, and each extra point of ABV adds about 7 calories per mug. Cal and Drinks are per mug of the classic recipe.

The other difference is congeners. Darker drinks such as red wine carry more of them, which may make a hangover worse (NIAAA). Red wine scores 8 out of 10 on our Hangover Index; of the varietals we cover, Pinot Noir is lowest at 6. White wine scores 6, which makes the mulled white wine the gentler pot. For the cleanest bottles, see the healthiest red wine and healthiest white wine rankings.

Mulled wine, Glühwein, glögg and wassail: the difference

All four are hot, spiced and sweetened. The differences are the base (wine or cider) and whether a spirit goes in, and in the EU, Glühwein and glögg are defined by law.

• Mulled wine

  173 cal · 12.8%

  To mull a drink is to heat, sweeten and flavor it with spices; Merriam-Webster names wine and cider as the examples. There is no fixed recipe: the classic here adds orange juice, brandy and honey to red wine, while the Glühwein adds only sugar.

  Merriam-Webster, mull (verb)

• Glühwein

  157 cal · 13.0%

  The German name for mulled wine, and in the EU a protected recipe: anything sold as Glühwein must be made only from red or white wine, flavored mainly with cinnamon or cloves, and at least 7% alcohol, with no water added. A white one must be labeled as white.

  Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 on aromatised wine products, Annex II (consolidated text of 8 December 2023) · Merriam-Webster, Glühwein

• Glögg

  145 cal · 16.2%

  A hot spiced wine and liquor punch served in Scandinavian countries as a Christmas drink, per Merriam-Webster. EU rules define vinglögg much like Glühwein (wine only, mainly cinnamon or cloves, at least 7%), and a stronger starkvinsglögg with alcohol added.

  Merriam-Webster, glogg · Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 on aromatised wine products, Annex II (consolidated text of 8 December 2023)

• Wassail

  146 cal · 6.2%

  Two meanings: an early English toast to someone’s health, and a hot drink made with wine, beer or cider, spices, sugar and usually baked apples, traditionally served in a large bowl at Christmastime. The version here uses cider.

  Merriam-Webster, wassail

• Mulled cider

  152 cal · 5.7%

  Apple cider mulled the same way: heated with spices. Cider is already sweet, so the recipe here adds no sugar, and the rum is optional.

  Merriam-Webster, mull (verb)

Calories and ABV are per mug of each recipe on this page. Our Glühwein at 13.0% clears the EU's 7% minimum comfortably, since nothing but sugar is added to the wine.

Batch calculator for a crowd

Hosting? Mulled drinks are made by the pot anyway. Pick one, enter your guest count and mugs each, and get the shopping amounts. A slow cooker set to warm holds the pot without boiling it.