By mulling the wine you're going to kill alot of the flavors anyhow. So what does it matter what you put in it? You wouldn't consider drinking mulled beer yet wine is perfectly ok?

BTW I had a great wine recently. Curvare '01 Pinot Noir, Unfined and Unfiltered. Very fruity and crisp. Definitely a good holiday wine since it goes well with poultry and lighter meats, expecially since I rarely drink whites. Just make sure you decant it.

And if you're looking for big wines Brunello di Montecino's are great! Really bold without the tannic bite some of the cabernet's have right now.

Damn I'm thirsty. Oh yeah for the beer drinkers. Anyone else try Samiclaus? I just had one and it was a lot sweeter then I imagined. And it wasn't bad. Though it was also 14% alcohol which I didn't realize either.