Style and flavour
Rich and sweet in the manner of a cream sherry, with a malty, almost biscuity depth. Warm spice from cardamom and cassia sits over a gently bitter, herbal finish that points to the gentian and mugwort in the recipe.
Key ingredients
- Enriched wine (described by the producer as a flavour-enriched British wine)
- Malt extract
- Gentian root
- Mugwort
- Angelica root
- Balm mint
- Fennel seed
- Coriander seed
- Peppermint leaves
- Cardamom seeds
- Cassia bark
History
Wincarnis traces back to William Juby Coleman, a manufacturing chemist who set up in Norwich in the 1870s. He first sold a fortified wine as 'Coleman's Liebig's Extract of Meat and Malt Wine'; the brand owner says the unwieldy name held it back and was replaced by Wincarnis, from the Latin for meat. The brand gives 1887 as its starting date. Meat extract is no longer an ingredient.
Coleman & Co grew into a significant Norwich employer, with a factory on Barn Road and products ranging from other tonics to toothpaste. Coleman stepped down in 1911 and died in 1918. During the Norwich Blitz of 1942 the works was bombed, with more than 15,000 gallons of wine reportedly destroyed, and the company later rebuilt on Westwick Street.
The brand subsequently passed to Hedges & Butler and was bought by Ian Macleod Distillers in 1998. It is now made for Ian Macleod by Broadland Wineries in Norfolk, which lists it at 14% in 75cl glass bottles. Ian Macleod also markets a Wincarnis Ginger Wine and has launched Wincarnis 1887, a liqueur based on the Victorian recipe.
Culture
Once a widely advertised British household tonic, Wincarnis now sells strongly abroad; Ian Macleod names the Far East, Middle East and Caribbean as key markets, and it has a particular following in Jamaica.
How to serve
Usually drunk neat, slightly chilled or at room temperature, as an aperitif. The brand owner suggests mixing it with gin as a 'Gin and Win', and in Jamaica it is commonly mixed with stout and milk. For more ideas, see our tonic wine recipes.