So, your kids are grown and you plan a Halloween party where adults dress up in clever—and probably not so clever—costumes and act like, well, kids.
You want wine to be part of your fright night fandango; what do you pour?
There are a lot of ways to play this one.
Consider Niebaum-Coppola efforts such as Rosso, a blend of Italian red grapes. It is suitably blood-red and made by filmmaker of Dracula.
If that is a little too obscure cinéma d’auteur for your crowd, let your wino friends stain their fake vampire teeth with Vampire wine.
Once made in Transylvania, Vampire now is Paso Robles product and more drinkable. You have choice of varietals, and Vampire’s campy persona will enliven your party with its wit without humiliating you with its taste—although not complex, these value wines are drinkable. Vampire also makes Vampyre Vodka for die-hard hard spirits fans.
Your crowd enjoys word plays? Alexander Valley Vineyards makes tongue-in-cheek collection of zinfandels: Temptation Zin, Sin Zin, Redemption Zin. These are serious zins, not just table wine with clever labels. In similar play, consider Michael David Winery’s 7 Deadly Zins. All sell for less than $15.
Still be-deviled? It’s hard to conjure a more appropriate Halloween label than Casillero del Diablo (“Cellar of the Devil”). Produced by Chile’s monster maker Concha y Toro, the name comes from dark legend that founder Don Melchor sought to stop workers from slurping his finest by securing bottles in deepest, most-forbidding cellar—The Cellar of the Devil. Casillero del Diablo produces many good values (including a stellar Gewürztraminer). Quaff as you dance on Don Melchor’s grave.
Same vein, suck in some Armida Poizin Zinfandel. It comes in bottle emblazoned with red skull and crossbones. Bonus: it is seriously good zin.
Still haunted by wine buy? Don’t dig your grave with this decision. Invite everyone coming to your soulful soiree to bring their own spookily appropriate bottle. That makes the event a collective effort, and your bank account won’t give up the ghost.