Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone & Gleuhwein
On Christmas Day of next year, I may be in a German Christmas market sipping on genuine Gleuhwein, but this Christmas I had the next best thing: a steaming mug of the homemade kind, and a book that takes place in a snowy castle.
The Pairing
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling and Homemade Gleuhwein
I assume that Harry Potter needs no introduction, so I'll leave it at this: my favorite book to read for the first time was #4, my favorite book to reread is #6, and I'm pretty sure I'm a Ravenclaw.
Ok- now on to the wine!
Gleuhwein is a mulled wine that's served very warm and drunk out of a mug (as opposed to a wine glass). My parents lived in Germany for a few years and picked up the recipe along the way. Making Gleuhwein involves buying a VERY large quantity of Burgundy wine and adding to it a reduced mixture of sugar, water, and spices. You let it all hang out over night and voila- delicious mulled wine ready to be warmed and served. To yourself.
I paired this homemade wine with Harry Potter for the obvious reasons: HP has a definite Christmas-y vibe and so is best enjoyed during the holidays, which is the same for Gleuhwein; HP is magical, and the transformation of wine into even more delicious wine is also magical; HP requires a lot of time because you can't just read stop mid-book (or, let's be honest, mid-series), so you need more than a typical bottle of wine to make it through. You need a 4-liter jug of wine.
Beyond the obvious reasons is the more subtle one: there is no wine that was good enough to stand up to these books. Harry Potter was a part of my childhood, so this pairing is personal. (Fortunately for my 10-year-old self) I didn't have a particular wine that featured in my early years, but Gleuhwein has at least been a meaningful part of my wine-related formative decade.
I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas this year! I'll see you soon for the FINAL pairing of the year. I can't believe the end of 2018 is here, marking the end of this PageFiftyNine project. It's made each post bittersweet.
Just kidding, it's all sweet.
The Pairing
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling and Homemade Gleuhwein
I assume that Harry Potter needs no introduction, so I'll leave it at this: my favorite book to read for the first time was #4, my favorite book to reread is #6, and I'm pretty sure I'm a Ravenclaw.
Ok- now on to the wine!
Gleuhwein is a mulled wine that's served very warm and drunk out of a mug (as opposed to a wine glass). My parents lived in Germany for a few years and picked up the recipe along the way. Making Gleuhwein involves buying a VERY large quantity of Burgundy wine and adding to it a reduced mixture of sugar, water, and spices. You let it all hang out over night and voila- delicious mulled wine ready to be warmed and served. To yourself.
I paired this homemade wine with Harry Potter for the obvious reasons: HP has a definite Christmas-y vibe and so is best enjoyed during the holidays, which is the same for Gleuhwein; HP is magical, and the transformation of wine into even more delicious wine is also magical; HP requires a lot of time because you can't just read stop mid-book (or, let's be honest, mid-series), so you need more than a typical bottle of wine to make it through. You need a 4-liter jug of wine.
Beyond the obvious reasons is the more subtle one: there is no wine that was good enough to stand up to these books. Harry Potter was a part of my childhood, so this pairing is personal. (Fortunately for my 10-year-old self) I didn't have a particular wine that featured in my early years, but Gleuhwein has at least been a meaningful part of my wine-related formative decade.
I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas this year! I'll see you soon for the FINAL pairing of the year. I can't believe the end of 2018 is here, marking the end of this PageFiftyNine project. It's made each post bittersweet.
Just kidding, it's all sweet.
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