flipHeisser Rheinwein — hot Rhine wine with honey and spices
Heisser Rheinwein — hot Rhine wine with honey and spices
Why this dish? Zelter's anchor says it: his shared meals in Weimar were accompanied by the Rhine wine that Goethe loved, and their thirty-year friendship was written glass in hand as much as pen in hand. This warmed white wine with spices evokes their long evenings of correspondence and conversation.
A white Rhine wine warmed, sweetened with honey, and perfumed with cinnamon, clove, and zest: the drink that comforts Prussian winter evenings and seals the friendship of the two men.
Goethe, that dear stubborn man, swore only by his Rhine wine, and after frequenting him I ended up conceding he was right. On winter evenings, when the pen almost froze in the inkwell, I would warm the wine without ever letting it boil — for boiling is murdering it! — with a little honey, a cinnamon stick, two cloves, and the peel of a lemon. You sip it slowly while talking of Bach and the world gone awry; I assure you nothing warms two old friends separated by miles better than this.
- •White Rhine wine — one bottle (base)
- •Honey — a few spoonfuls (sweetness)
- •Cinnamon stick — one (spice)
- •Cloves — two or three (spice)
- •Lemon peel — from one fruit (freshness)
Heisser Rheinwein — hot Rhine wine with honey and spices
A white Rhine wine warmed, sweetened with honey, and perfumed with cinnamon, clove, and zest: the drink that comforts Prussian winter evenings and seals the friendship of the two men.
Why this dish? Zelter's anchor says it: his shared meals in Weimar were accompanied by the Rhine wine that Goethe loved, and their thirty-year friendship was written glass in hand as much as pen in hand. This warmed white wine with spices evokes their long evenings of correspondence and conversation.
Goethe, that dear stubborn man, swore only by his Rhine wine, and after frequenting him I ended up conceding he was right. On winter evenings, when the pen almost froze in the inkwell, I would warm the wine without ever letting it boil — for boiling is murdering it! — with a little honey, a cinnamon stick, two cloves, and the peel of a lemon. You sip it slowly while talking of Bach and the world gone awry; I assure you nothing warms two old friends separated by miles better than this.
Ingredients (period version)
- White Rhine wine — one bottle (base)
- Honey — a few spoonfuls (sweetness)
- Cinnamon stick — one (spice)
- Cloves — two or three (spice)
- Lemon peel — from one fruit (freshness)
Ingredients
- Dry white wine (Riesling) — 75 cl (base)
- Honey — 3 tbsp (sweetness)
- Cinnamon — 1 stick (spice)
- Cloves — 3 (spice)
- Lemon zest — 1 (freshness)
- Star anise (optional) — 1 (anise note)
Method
- Pour the wine into a saucepan with honey, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon zest.
- Heat very gently without ever reaching a boil (alcohol and aromas would evaporate).
- Keep at a simmer for 10 minutes to infuse the spices.
- Strain and serve hot in cups or thick glasses.
How it was made : Warming wine with honey and spices is a very old European practice, inherited from the Middle Ages (hypocras), revived throughout northern Germany to face winters. Rhine wine, white and crisp, was the prestigious wine of German courts and the one Goethe celebrated.
The contemporary twist : Non-alcoholic version for the family table: white grape and apple juice heated with the same spices and a squeeze of lemon.
Carl Friedrich Zelter · Charactorium
