Have Yourself a Merry Mulled Wine Winter

Breaking down the Merry Maker holiday bundle from Brooks Wine, Woodblock Chocolate, and Smith Teamaker.

GETTING WARMER: A mug of mulled wine. (Shutterstock)

Want to spike the punch? There’s no need with the Merry Maker gift box from Brooks Wine, which will have you sipping a warm, spicy mug of mulled riesling faster than you can sing “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” And you get a bottle of Brooks’ flagship 2018 Janus Pinot Noir on top of that.

The holiday bundle is an all-Oregon collaboration between Brooks and bean-to-bar chocolate maker Woodblock, two kindred spirit companies that began working together during the pandemic and are now teamed up with Bons Amis (“good friends”), a wine and chocolate tasting room at Woodblock’s Northeast Portland factory. Playing an equally big role in the kit’s creation is iconic Portland teamaker Steven Smith, whose Merry Maker’s Punch is both a base for the mulled wine and an ingredient in the included jar of chocolate.

Here’s how it all breaks down.

The Brooks Wine 2018 Cahiers Riesling

Named in homage to the journals kept by Brooks’ late founder Jimi Brooks—“cahiers” is French for “notebooks.” This is a medium-sweet, semi-dry white wine with notes of peach syrup, quince, ginger and baking spices. All of which play well with…

The Steven Smith Tea Merry Maker’s Punch

Call it punch, call it an “herbal holiday infusion,” or call it tea—the Merry Maker’s is a potpourri of hibiscus, wintry warming spices (ginger, cassia, sarsaparilla root, clove), à la Jamaican sorrel drink, as well as black currant flavor, pink rose petals, elderflower, manuka honey flavor, and lemon myrtle.

One oversized sachet makes two cups of punch concentrate, which, in addition to being used in the mulled wine recipe that you’re about to read, can be enjoyed on its own (50-50 with water), as a spritz, in hot apple cider, or amped up with hard liquor. The bundle also includes a holiday glaze recipe (for ham or any other protein of your choice) from Brooks chef Norma Buchholz, made with Merry Maker’s, Dijon mustard and brown sugar.

The Red Wine and Chocolate

Woodblock’s contribution is a collab with Steven Smith: a jar of 70% Tanzanian cacao chocolate enfleurage, in which the aroma of the Merry Maker’s Punch infuses the mendiants (if it seems the hibiscus and spices should have stayed more firmly fastened to the top of the discs, that’s not necessarily the case).

The floral and fruity dark chocolate is meant to be paired with Brooks’ 2018 Janus, “the richest, most vibrant and intense” pinot noir that the winery produces. But first, it’s time for…

The Mulled Wine

Though you can still just call it punch: It’s blood-purple from the hibiscus (you’d never know white wine was involved) and spicy from the ginger, clove and cassia, with holiday jam and cranberry notes. It can be enjoyed either hot or cold; make it sweeter or less sweet per the recipe.

MERRY MAKER’SMULLED WINE

Created by Sara Kaufman of Steven Smith Teamaker

Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 sachets Smith Teamaker Merry Maker’s Punch

1 liter (4 cups) of boiling water

1 bottle of 2018 Cahiers Riesling

7-8 ounces of simple syrup or sugar, to taste

Directions

1. Bring spring or filtered water to a boil in a saucepan.

2. Steep 2 sachets of Merry Maker’s Punch for 5 minutes.

3. Remove tea bags.

4. Add riesling and simple syrup or sugar to the saucepan and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn off the alcohol!

5. Remove from stove and serve hot with an orange twist.

BUY: The Merry Maker holiday bundle is available at brookswine.com or Bons Amis, 1715 NE 17th Ave., 971-754-4874. 3-7 pm Friday, noon-7 pm Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday. $125.

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