Spiced Red Wine Punch

NcMysteryShopper's Note:

Wonderful punch for a holiday cocktail party. The Holiday Spice Syrup recipe makes 3 cups and can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. The left overs can be used in a great drink recipe: December Stormy #146719 Recipe is by Eben Klemm, the supremely creative bar manager and mixologist at Pico, New York's most elegant Portuguese restaurant. Punch needs to stand at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 1/2 cups

Holiday Spice Syrup

• 1 quart water
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 star anise pods
• 5 allspice berries
• 3 cinnamon sticks (3-inch each)
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped

Spiced Red Wine Punch

• 4 (750 ml) bottles fruity red wine, such as Beaujolais or 4 (750 ml) bottles shiraz wine
• 1 1/4 cups holiday spice syrup (above recipe)
• pomegranate seeds, for garnish
• sliced kumquat, for garnish
• ice cube, for serving

Directions:

1. Holiday Spice Syrup: Combine the water, sugar, star anise pods, allspice berries, cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean and seeds in a large saucepan and simmer over moderately low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain the syrup and chill.
2. Combine the red wine and 1 1/4 cup of the holiday spice syrup in a very large punch bowl and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Garnish with the pomegranate seeds and kumquat slices and serve over ice.

Reviews

[KO from CT]

Fantastic Recipe! We have an annual Christmas Open House, and this helped me enjoy the party. Everyone went for this punch. I used all the syrup with 2 liters of Shiraz. It was all gone.