When I was in The Wife of Bath in Wye in Kent, forty odd years ago the local gent- I can no longer remember his name but I think he was a Lord- used to hold a shoot in his estate for London business men every Saturday in the winter. There his beaters would ensure that these people(who paid a fortune for the privilage) all would shoot an enormous amount of his (basically tame) game birds. They then came to lunch in the restaurant, all smelly and muddy- we fed them in the staff dining room which they loved- and they were always fed basically English Nursery food, Steak and Kidney Pudding, Shepherds Pie and always with a pudding afterwards, Bread and Butter and Sussex Pond Pudding I remember. However to regain their strength after their shooting ordeal they always started with copious amounts of Mulled Claret. Now Michael Waterfield’s Mulled Claret, which was what they were served was simply the best hot wine I have ever had and is the recipe I use to this day. In “The Wife” we always made it from Claret which we got from Avery’s of Bristol but I have made it with rougher brands since.
Here is the very precise recipe:

Wife of Bath Mulled Claret.

Dissolve 225g brown sugar in 575 mls of water.
Add the slivered zest of 1 Seville Orange and the juice of two.
12 Cloves, two broken sticks of Cinnamon and 1 whole freshly grated Nutmeg.
Add 4 Bottles of Claret.
Bring this back to hot but do not boil and then let it infuse for one hour.
Again re-heat (not boil) and serve in glasses.