Today is Imbolc, the first day of the Chinese New Year, and a new moon. Time for new projects and new experiences. Imbolc, an Irish pagan holiday, is one of the four cross-quarter days that fall between an equinox or solstice – Imbolc falls between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, and marks the beginning of spring. With a huge storm cloud swallowing up more than half the country, it seems a bit early to start celebrating the change of seasons, but it at least offers a good sign post, a marker of things to come. It’s a transition period. A beginning before beginning.

A few weeks ago, I got a cookbook as a gift – The Lost Art of Real Cooking. I paged through and landed on a medieval spiced wine recipe called “psychic love wine.” No, really. My mulled wine is still a-mulling in my closet, but it should be ready in time for that much adored and reviled mid-winter lovefest.

psychic love wine

adapted from

This is a spiced wine redolent of the Middle Ages. Take a one-and-a-half liter bottle of dry white wine, nothing expensive of course. Sauvignon blanc or cheap pinot grigio is fine. Heat the wine gently in a pot and add to it an array of spices, including pepper, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace, aniseed, coriander, lemon peel – anything you like. Just try to avoid the pumpkin-spice combo of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, which is too sweet and cloying on its own. You really want this to be spicy with ginger hot in the mouth. If you can find long pepper, cubeb, grains of paradise, cassia buds, spikenard, or other medieval spicery, go ahead. Most can be found online. They are amazing. A drop of rosewater is nice, too.

Add a dash of honey to temper its heat and cook gently without letting it boil, for about half an hour. Let cool and add one or two cups of brandy to the mixture. You need to do this, since some alcohol will have burned off. Feel free to add more if you like. Keep this in a vessel (I used two 3 cup mason jars) undisturbed for at least a week, spices and all. When it tastes rounded and mellow, decant into another bottle, straining out the spices. Chill in the fridge or serve at room temperature.

This will completely shatter everyone’s conception of mulled wine. This is, incidentally, an aphrodisiac. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.