Halloween Wine Tips

Whether you are hosting or haunting a Halloween party this year, there are plenty of fun, festive options to incorporate wine into the ghoulish occasion.  From creating your own Halloween specialty wine labels, to sharing wines from Vampire Vineyards, to serving themed wine mixed drinks.  With a little imagination and suggestions from Wine Colors USA, your Halloween event will truly be memorable.

Halloween-themed Wine Labels:

PersonalWine.com allows users to order wines from reputable vintners and design custom Halloween labels to appear on your chosen wine.  These would make terrific party favors or costume contest prizes.

Vampire Wines 

Vampire Vineyards now offers nine different wine varietals for your Halloween celebrations: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Merlot Rose, Zinfadel, White Zinfandel, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  These wines that retail for around $10 per bottle come complete with spooky vampire wine labels.  These are sure to be a hit of the party.

Halloween-themed Drink:

Banshee Mulled Red Wine Punch

  

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• One bottle of red wine (suggestions: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot or a Spanish red)
• One peeled and sliced orange (keep peel to add zest to taste into cooking pot)
• One peeled and sliced lemon (keep peel to add zest to taste in cooking pot)
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 5 whole cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 cup sugar (or honey can be substituted)
• 2/3 cup brandy or cognac
• 1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in either a large pot or a slow cooker. Gently warm the ingredients on low to medium heat (avoid boiling), for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure that the honey or sugar has completely dissolved. When the wine is steaming and the ingredients have blended well it is ready to serve. Ladle into mugs (leaving seasonings behind), garnish with a blood orange segment and perhaps black plastic, Halloween spiders and enjoy! 

Red Wine Feature: Malbec

Say ‘Malbec’ to a wine lover and they may immediately reply ‘Argentina’. It is the great wine of that country where defining examples of the variety are often found. Like Zinfandel and California, or Pinotage and South Africa are linked together, so is Malbec and Argentina which grows more than 70% of the world’s Malbec.

Malbec, a red grape that originated in southwest France, was first planted in Argentina as far back as 1852.  However in the past twenty years worldwide appreciation of Malbec has grown significantly.  And Argentina vintners have grown impressive dark red grape varieties to meet the demand.

So what should you expect from a red Argentinean Malbec? Think of spring flowers with soft tannins and a dense color. Sometimes you can taste hints of dark coffee and blackberries. It goes without saying that you get what you pay for but because Malbec is a name not yet recognised by the mass market you can get good examples reasonably priced.

Wine Colors Malbec Recommendations:  Bodega Colome from Argentina and Bellevue Estate Morkel from South Africa.

Fall Wine Recommendations

Cooler weather calls for crisp wines that make you think of changing leaves and cool, clear nights.  Embrace autumn with these delicious fall red and white wine recommendations, each for less than $20.

 

Autumn red wines

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2008 ($7)

Don’t let the low price tag give you the illusion that this is a substandard wine; Georges Duboeuf is one of the most popular Beaujolais producers in the world. Exuding the aroma of bananas and tasting of red berries, pomegranates and plums, this wine’s freshness and light tannins make it a lovely go-to wine for fall.

Tudal Family Winery Flatbed Red Zinfandel 2004 ($15)

Red zin has gotten a bad rap over the years, but the Tudal family’s wine is a great example of the many delicious qualities a red zinfandel really has to offer. With notes of cherry and allspice as well as chocolate and blackberry, this full-flavored red from Napa Valley is just the red to transition you from summer into fall.

Alamos Malbec 2007 ($10)

Malbec may be an unknown varietal to some, but it is definitely worth trying. This particular red from Argentina is medium bodied, with the aroma of ripe blackberry and the taste of spice and black pepper. This is an impressive fall wine that is appropriate even into winter.

Autumn white wines

NV Ferrari Fratelli Lunelli Brut Metdo Classico Trento ($18)

This clean, bright chardonnay has a hint of fresh apples with a floral nose. Although chardonnay is associated with summer, this wine’s hint of apple makes it an enjoyable autumn wine.

Herman J Weimer Frost Cuvee 2008 ($13)

With a combination of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Cuvee of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this very crisp white wine is not dry and delivers a hit of sweetness. Coming from the Finger Lakes region, this is a great domestic wine that offers a unique taste with each vintage.

2006 Trimbach Pinot Blanc ($15)

Made from fruit harvested in the fall, this white has a clean finish and a slight acidity. With hints of citrus and red grapes, Pinot Blanc is a great option for a light white that imparts a warm feeling.

Autumn Entertaining Ideas

Autumn is here.  As temperatures cool, many begin to shift focus to indoor entertaining.  Suppose you would like to have a few friends over, but are tired of the same old, boring potluck dinner.  Here are some interesting ideas for Autumn wine parties.

• Host a wine and cheese party.  It's easy on the entertaining budget and here at the winery, we have a good selection of shelf stable cheese along with several cheese ball/dip mixes.  Yes, I know that that seems the same old, same old, but you can spice it up a bit by serving salsa.  

•  How about tasting some new wines?  To make the event interesting, have a blind tasting and have everyone rate and discuss their most favorite and least favorite selections.

• How about a night at the movies?  Know your guests.  Pick something all would enjoy. Decorate to the theme.  Maybe invite the guests to dress up as their favorite character.  You could get everyone to imitate a scene from a favorite movie.

• Host a book reading discussion, either from folks reading the same book or discussing their current reads.

These are just a few thoughts.  The key is having a good time with good friends and of course good wine.  Enjoy.

Wine and Prose Book Review: The Warmth of Other Suns

As the autumn leaves begin to change and you find yourself wanting to read a great book to pair with that glass of red wine, consider Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns.” The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist brings attention to one of America’s most influential social transformations: the Great Migration.

The exodus of over six million African Americans from the rural southern states to the industrial north in a period of five decades (1920’s – 1960’s) remade New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. It transformed American culture; turned jazz, the blues and gospel music into national phenomena; and fueled the Civil Right’s Movemement.

Wilkerson's "The Warmth of Other Suns" is a brilliant and stirring epic, the first book to cover the full half-century of the Great Migration. A daughter of Southern migrants, Ms. Wilkerson combines impressive research—which included interviewing more than 1,200 people, she says—with great literary power.

Though "The Warmth of Other Suns" is a rigorous work of history and not a novel, Wilkerson humanizes history through use of narration, giving it emotional and psychological depth. She is especially good at capturing the experiential sense of life in the poor South and of the migration itself.

In a book that, quite amazingly is her first, Wilkerson has pulled off an all but impossible feat. She has not only documented the sweeping 55-year-long migration of African Americans, she has used narration to make her stories interesting and compelling, challenging dismissive assumptions about one of America's greatest social movements.