Alcohol-free mulled wine advice needed

[OMGitsnotgood]

We have a pre-Christmas gathering with a big group of friends, which I am hosting this year. It's expected that we have mulled wine.
We always have a couple of drivers/non-drinkers who either miss out on the mulled experience or have been given something they feel forced to drink but not found very pleasant (mulled Vimto is apparently vile and mulled cranberry / grape /apple juice only marginally better).

I did buy a bottle of non-alcoholic mulled wine once but like all shop bought mulled wine I’ve ever tried was way too sweet.

I was thinking of just buying alcohol free red wine and mulling it. Has anyone tried that and if so any recommendations on which alcohol free red wine works well?

Or has anyone bought a ready made alcohol free version that wasn’t too sweet?

Thank you

If you are near enough to an Ikea, their mulled fruit drink is pretty decent.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vintersaga-mulled-fruit-drink-30594962/

thank you @skilpadde. How sweet is is?

IKEA is too far from us just to go for that but I often go and look at their Christmas stuff.

Other suggestions welcome in case I don't get to IKEA. Thanks

Mulled apple juice eg https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mulled-apple-juice is very easy and tastes lovely. Nicer than buying alcohol free wine IMO.

I thought the one from M and S was quite decent last year.

Yeah I would mull an apple juice and opt for a less sweet variety to begin with.

As a complete alternative you could do a chai tea. Big pot of black tea on the hob with milk and spices.

Another recommendation for the ikea one. It tastes really nice. If you can get there I definitely would get that x

I use winter warmer herbal tea from pukka it's lovely and festive!

Another vote for a big pot of winter warmer berry type tea drink. DSis lives in the Baltics and whenever we visit in winter there are lots of stalls selling either mulled wine or a hot red berry tea as the alcohol free option.

Lidl has a non alcoholic mulled punch but I've not tasted it.

I agree with @letshavetea that the M&S one is decent. I found the Ikea mulled fruit drink too sweet, but appreciate that tastes differ.

How about a hot spiced tea?

But if you get the balance right and add a bit of water to dilute the sweetness, mulled red grape juice or apple juice can be delicious.

At our similar gathering the offering is mulled wine or spiced* apple juice. Both seem to go down well. The apple juice I do is very forgiving in terms of the recipe and topping up if necessary, just like mulled wine.

It's a favourite here throughout the winter and very simple.

2 apples, one chopped, one studded with cloves
1 orange, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
About a tsp nutmeg (I tend to use ground rather than grating my own because it's finer)
1l apple juice.

The original recipe suggests sugar to taste but I never add any although honey is nice if you're drinking it as a sore throat reliever!

• I suppose spiced and heated = mulled but I've never called it that for some reason.

Sainsburys do an alcohol free mulled wine which I find ok!

As someone who doesn’t drink, I would grin and bear the AF mulled wine versions from the shops, but I wouldn’t love it. If you really want something wine-like, go with a higher end de-alcoholised red wine (noughty or Waitrose does one called Natureo, which is nice) and mull as normal.

I would probably canvas the non-drinkers for suggestions first though. I’d love a properly made chai tea or a fancy hot chocolate or even just a mulled cloudy apple more than fake mulled wine, and you may find others are similar.

Dm hasn't drunk alcohol for over 40 years. She likes Norfolk Punch. You used to be able to get it from Holland and Barrett. Not sure now.

Hot alcohol free apple cider is nicer than alcoholic free mulled wine. The Americans do lots of it. Just use cloudy apple juice.

www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a10425/mulled-apple-cider/

Lidl do a decent one

If you can take time, you can make a very-low-alcohol mulled wine with ordinary wine.

Alcohol evaporates at 78.3°C. Water evaporates at 100°C.

If you simmer your mulled wine so that it is visibly bubbling and keep it like that, with no lid, for at least 2 hours the vast majority of the alcohol will have evaporated. Generally mulled wine recipes will tell you to keep the heat very low and keep a lid on - these instructions are to help keep most of the alcohol.

This method won't be 100% alcohol free but should be safe enough for drivers unless they are going to have 6 glasses. I wouldn't give it to a recovering alcoholic.

I did AF mulled wine for an event last year and used supermarket AF mulled wine as a base but added pomegranate juice/orange and lemon peel strips/cloves/cinnamon bark/ dark brown sugar and a good slug of AF rum type stuff and it came out ok.
We suspect that some of the consumers didn't realise it was AF from the comments.
Perhaps helped I did the mulling the day before and then reheated -gave the spice flavours a chance to develop.

Thank you all. I agree that it probably makes sense to ask the non-drinkers what they'd prefer. We have a WhatsApp group so will put forward a few of your ideas and poll for preferences.

There used to be a cordial you could buy that was like a mulled drink - not sure if you still can

The Rochester drinks aren't bad. I haven't tried the mulled berry drink but it has good reviews. It's sold in various places, not just Holland and Barrett.

https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/rochester-organic-mulled-berry-punch-drink-60081072

I find Bottlegreen or similar spiced berry cordial is lovely - easy to make with a slosh in the bottom of the glass and hot water - you could fling a cinnamon stick or slice of orange in if you wanted it to look fancier! Any supermarket should have it.

Thank you for thinking of the non-drinkers and drivers! Too often I've been left with water or kids' squash while everyone else is getting their party on... 😁

At our church toddler group, we used to do:
1 litre red grape juice (carton from Sainsbury's)
1 tsp allspice
1 sliced orange
1 sliced lemon
Small cinnamon stick

Heat juice and spices gently for about 30 mins without boiling. Add orange and lemon slices about 10 mins before serving
It's lovely!

Definitely mulled apple juice. It is lovely.