So sometime over the winter I was in a Trader Joe’s [*] and saw their VINTJS Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, priced around $7.99. So I grabbed a couple of bottles, just on a whim. I don’t remember if this was before or after the Big Bronchitis, but we didn’t open a bottle until sometime in February. Oh my goodness — what a lovely wine! Lush, medium-bodied, and reminiscent of fruit — blackberry came to mind. Just a really lovely wine. I drank it with this down-home casserole — this is not a pretentious wine.

A couple of days later we got socked with a pretty decent snowstorm. After some shoveling, I was hankering for something warm and adult. I saw the partial bottle of wine and thought Mulled Wine! So I poured the remaining wine (estimated 3 cups), one cup of cran-rasberry juice (100% juice), and 1/4 cup of sugar into a saucepan. I wrapped two tablespoons of mulling spices in a cheesecloth sachet and dropped that in. Gently simmer 15 or 20 minutes until hot and the spices are well-infused. Serve steaming hot in mugs.

[*] I swear I am not a paid shill for Trader Joe’s. But you just can’t beat them for reasonably-priced everyday wines.

Standard caveat: This is a personal recommendation. The Trader Joe’s folks don’t know I exist and have provided neither product nor compensation for this endorsement. In fact, they’ll probably sue me if this ever gets in a search engine.