Karstvīns

Ingredients

The wine

• 1.5 litresred wine
• a soft fruity one
• 5 tablespoonshoney
• or 130 g sugar

Spices

• 3cinnamon sticks
• 12whole cloves
• 4star anise
• 1 teaspoonwhole allspice berries
• 3cm fresh ginger, sliced
• a pinch of grated nutmeg

Fruit and nuts

• 2oranges, sliced
• 1apple, sliced
• 100 graisins
• 100 gblanched almonds

Sometimes added

• 50 mlRiga Black Balsam
• or a shot of brandy
• 200 mlcranberry juice

Directions

1. Keep it at a bare steam instead. Use a soft and fruity red wine. It should not be heavily tannic at all. Put the whole spices in a dry pan. Warm them over a medium low heat. Give them about two full minutes. Shake the pan as they warm through. They should smell noticeably stronger.
2. Put the raisins in a small bowl. Cover them with a little hot water. Let them plump up for twenty minutes. Drain them before they go into the mug. Preparing the fruit takes a moment. Wash the oranges very thoroughly. Waxed fruit should be scrubbed well.
3. Slice them all into thin rounds. Keep the peel on, since it carries the oil. Slice the apple up thinly as well. Pour about a third of the wine into a pot. Add the toasted spices and the ginger. Add the sliced fruit to the pot. Warm it gently over a low heat.
4. Let it simmer very gently for ten minutes. The cold wine brings the temperature down. Warm the whole pot through gently. Bring it to a bare steam only. Never let it bubble at all here.
5. Hold it there for about fifteen minutes. Judging the temperature takes attention. Steam should rise from the surface. No bubbles should break it at all. Turn the heat right down if it starts to bubble. Adding the honey is done off the heat. Take the pot right off the heat first. Stir the honey in until it dissolves.
6. Taste it and adjust the sweetness. Add it off the heat at the very end. Use about fifty millilitres for the pot. Leaving them in keeps infusing it. Put a spoonful of raisins in each mug. Add a few blanched almonds with them.
7. Pour the hot wine over the top of that. Add a fresh orange slice to each one. It is drunk standing in the cold. Warm alcohol is absorbed faster than cold. Never drive after drinking it.

Technique

• Riga Black Balsam is a very dark Latvian herbal liqueur, bitter, sweet and strongly herbal, made with a large number of botanicals to a closely guarded recipe since the eighteenth century and running around forty-five percent alcohol; a shot in an already alcoholic mulled wine adds up quickly.
• Nordic and Baltic mulled wines include raisins and almonds that sit in the bottom of the mug and are eaten with a spoon at the end, as in Swedish glogg and Finnish glogi; that is not the case further south in Europe.
• Karsts means hot and vins means wine, so the name is simply hot wine, and the whole region has its own version of the drink.

Substitutions

• Sugar stands in for honey, though the sweetness is flatter.
• Brandy or a shot of spirit can replace the Black Balsam.

Variations

• Many stalls ask whether you want Black Balsam added.
• Cranberry juice is added to lengthen and sharpen it.
• Glogg, glogi and hoogvein are the same idea elsewhere in the region.

History

Poured at Riga’s Christmas market on Doma laukums, often laced with Riga Black Balsam.

Frequently asked questions

What is Karstvīns?

Karstvīns is a cocktail from Latvia: mulled red wine with honey and spices, sold from market huts. Poured at Riga’s Christmas market on Doma laukums, often laced with Riga Black Balsam.

How long does Karstvīns take to make?

Karstvīns takes 10 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Karstvīns?

Yes, within limits. Sugar stands in for honey, though the sweetness is flatter. Brandy or a shot of spirit can replace the Black Balsam.

What is the most important thing to get right in Karstvīns?

Keep it at a bare steam instead. Use a soft and fruity red wine. It should not be heavily tannic at all. Put the whole spices in a dry pan. Warm them over a medium low heat. Give them about two full minutes. Shake the pan as they warm through. They should smell noticeably stronger.