Spooky Wines for Halloween Time

 

Halloween is almost here, and what is the best accompaniment to pumpkin picking, parties where Thriller and Monster Mash will be blaring, scary movie watching, and candy handing-out and eating? Wine, of course!

My first instinct was to write about spooky pairings that will make any palate say “boo,” but as the month blew through like those fallen leaves, I realized that I had spent October enjoying wines that simply made me think of this most spooktacular month. Be it their label, taste, or locale of origin, these wines brought to mind images of everything Halloween, from goblins and ghosts to bright orange leaves. Here is a smattering of what I have enjoyed this month, and no matter how you celebrate October 31^st, I hope it is with a delicious glass of wine in hand. Happy Halloween!

Vampire Vineyards California Pinot Noir 2020: I first discovered the Vampire Vineyards line of wine in 2012 when I was making vino selections for a girls’ weekend to Estes Park, where we were going to attend the Shining Ball at the infamous Stanley Hotel. The winery name and creepy label was the perfect pairing for a spooky weekend. After that year, I struggled to find these wines in any of my area liquor stores, so I was happily shocked last October 1^st when I walked into the kitchen and was greeted by a display of Pinot Noirs from this winery, all decked out in vampire capes, as a random gift from my husband. There was the True Blood 2012 Carneros Pinot Noir, Dracula 2013 Carneros Pinot Noir, and the Vampire Vineyards California Pinot Noir 2020. Wanting to drink two that year and save one for this, I enjoyed the True Blood and Dracula versions, and patiently (impatiently) cellared the Vampire Pinot. As I sipped on it this October, it truly pleased me that everything about this wine screamed October, including its aroma of a forest floor in autumn. Tasting notes I got from this lovely wine were raspberry, orange, violet, cedar, and warming spices, making it taste just like fall, and like Dracula, I sank my teeth in and enjoyed every drop. I would recommend any of these wines during this spooky season, and I would also recommend picking up the book A Walk in the Sun by Lisa Dominique Machat, one of the owners of Vampire Vineyards. Curling up with this book and a glass of Vampire Wine is the ultimate Halloween experience.

 

Whitewater Hill Vineyards Primitivo: One sip of this bright and beautiful wine at this year’s Barrel into Spring Event in Palisade had me hooked. When I saw the spooky and funky black cat label, I knew I had to buy this bottle, and I knew the exact date I was going to open it. There is something truly exciting about having a Friday the 13^th in October, and it is made even more exciting by having the perfect bottle of wine to enjoy on that day. Superstitions state you are to avoid black cats on Friday the 13^th, so I couldn’t think up a more frightening bottle to open up. Medium down the line, its notes of sweet red plum, strawberry, tobacco, spice, and rose conjured up images of telling scary stories around a campfire with Jason Vorhees lurking in the background. It was the ultimate October Friday the 13^th treat.

 

Petro Vaselo 2020 Fetească Neagră Melgís: No, this doesn’t have a spooky label. Nor does it have a creepy name. So, why did I include this wine in my Halloween quaffs? I included this blood red beauty because it is from Romania, the country that Transylvania resides in, the home of Dracula. Having finally found a wine shop that sold Romanian wine, I purchased a couple of different varieties. Out of these options, I selected the Fetescă Neagră for my Halloween treat due its bright red color, and that it is a native grape to Romania. If I was going to drink a wine from Dracula’s country in October, it needed to be red and original. After swirling this wine and letting the blood red legs drip down the side of the glass, I inhaled its aroma of bloody meat, blood orange, plum, and toasted coconut, and was pleased to see most of these notes traveled over to the palate. It was such a vibrant red wine. As I drained this lovely bottle, I couldn’t help but think of drinking it in a drafty castle library. It was everything I had wanted in a Romanian wine, giving me a real connection to the Dracula lore.

 

Fat Bastard Blood Red 2017: This was the wine I was most excited about trying this month, as its label just shrieked Halloween night. So did its aroma. Mixed with red fruit and toast, I got a note of earthy funk that brought to mind images of fallen yellow leaves spread along the dying earth. The wine had a taste of cherry cola, with the cherry being extra creamy, and a bit of that earthy funk. The label recommended it being paired with fried chicken, so of course I had to have it with my spooky themed chicken nuggets shaped like ghosts, bats and pumpkins. Each bite of nugget followed by sip of wine made me feel the fun and thrill of Halloween time, and all I wanted to do was go and wander through fallen leaves in a graveyard. It was the perfect wine to enjoy this month, and as you can see by the picture, it is also kitty approved.

 

Pontchartrain Vineyards VooDoo Zin 2016: Having purchased two bottles of this skeleton labeled wine during my 2019 New Orleans trip with my mom, I decided this Halloween was the perfect time to open my last bottle. I was right. The first time around, it had nice dark berry and black pepper notes that I enjoyed, but the wine didn’t wow me. Upon opening it this week, after a few years of bottle aging, this assessment completely changed. On the nose I got notes of blueberry and red licorice. Cooked blueberry, blackberry, and huckleberry flowed along the palate with black licorice and spice, chilling my tastebuds with its spinetingling goodness. Dry but fruity, this wine with its licorice notes made me think of all the delectable treats placed in trick-or-treat bags on Halloween night, and I personally couldn’t wait to pair it with my pumpkin chili. This wine completely wowed me, and I was left wondering if there was some way to conjure up another bottle…