Tag Archives: Halloween

Hallowine Recommendations

Halloween is right around the corner and there are plenty of wines at your local wine shop with labels that work perfectly for the season. Here are some wines that pair with creep-tastic costume parties, trick-or-treating with neighborhood parents, or just relaxing like the dead at home.

#1 Villa Jolanda Halloween Spumante

I always say, you can never go wrong with bubbles! This delightful sparkler from Italy is bright and juicy. It is an Extra Sec, meaning it has a small amount of sweetness that makes it easy drinking and fun to pair with Halloween candy.

#2. The Prisoner Blindfold, $25

The Prisoner Blindfold is a unique blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc with Rhone varietals – Roussanne, Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne. It has a toasty base of Chardonnay layered with flavors of pineapple, tangerine and grapefruit.

#3. Phantom Chardonnay, $13

Bogle Vineyards’ Phantom Chardonnay is a hauntingly delicious, full bodied wine. It has all of those yummy Fall flavors of baked apple pie, vanilla, caramel and butter along with mango, pineapple and toasty oak.

#4. Owen Roe Sinister Hand, $25

Sinister Hand is a GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) blend from Washington State’s Columbia Valley. It is spicy and dark with black cherry, strawberry and vanilla notes. It has noticeable chewy tannins, a touch of pepper and some earthiness.

#5. Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon, $15

Fruit for Ghost Pines is sourced from Napa, Sonoma and Lake Counties, with each area bringing its own unique characteristics. This creates a complex and balanced blend of Cabernet Sauvignon. Ghost Pines is a rich wine offering intense blackberry, blackcurrant and dark cherry aromas along with notes of toasty oak, vanilla, and toasted nuts.

 

5 Boozy Hallow-wine Brews

We’re only a few short days away from my favorite Fall holiday! Halloween holds a special place in my heart because my birthday is only two days before, and I grew up throwing epic Halloween/Birthday parties every year. Even as an adult, I love having an excuse to wear a costume outside of Disney World and Comicons without getting sideways glances.

To celebrate this upcoming Halloween, I wanted to share some boozy brews that, of course, all have wine as a key ingredient. As a bonus, if you invite me to your Halloween party, I promise to pour all of these for your guests!

Pumpkin Spice Wine Spritzer

Pumpkin Spice Wine Spritzer | Halloween Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

    1. Add ice to a low ball glass.
    2. Pour in the pumpkin spice liquor and the wine.
    3. Stir then top off the glass with seltzer.
    4. Garnish with cinnamon stick

Recipe and photo courtesy of www.mantitlement.com

Red Wine Margarita with Black Lava Salt

Red Wine Margarita, Black Lava Salt

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pour red wine into an ice cube tray and let freeze overnight
  • Remove ice cube tray from freezer and add all the wine ice cubes into a blender
  • Pour the tequila, margarita mix, lime juice over the frozen wine cubes
  • Blend just for a second or two
  • Slice limes and rub around the rim of a margarita glass, dip the top of the glass into the black salt
  • Fill with the wine margarita mixture

Recipe and photo courtesy of www.myturnforus.com

Halloween Sangria

Halloween Sangria. Blood red sangria with frozen grape eyeballs. Perfect Halloween drink for a party!

Ingredients

  •  1 cup whole black grapes
  •  1 cup whole green grapes
  •  2 oranges — sliced into rounds
  •  1 lemon — sliced into rounds
  •  1 lime — sliced into rounds
  •  1 cinnamon stick
  •  1/4 cup brandy
  •  1 bottle red wine
  •  1 can ginger ale — (12 ounces)
  •  Colored sugar — for rimming glasses

Instructions

    1. Rinse and de-stem grapes, then pat dry. Spread in a single layer a baking sheet, then place in the freezer at least 2 hours before you plan to serve
    2. In a large glass pitcher, combine 1/2 of the orange slices (reserve the second half for serving), lime, and lemon slices. Add the brandy and cinnamon stick and stir gently to combine. Slowly pour in the wine. Refrigerate sangria for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight (a longer chill time will increase the flavor).
    3. When ready to serve, add the ginger ale to the pitcher and stir gently with spoon. To sugar the glass rims, place the colored sugar on a plate, then rub an orange slice around the glass rim. Dip the rim of each glass into the sugar, coating well. Fill glasses with frozen grapes and reserved orange slices, then slowly pour in the sangria. Sip immediately and enjoy.

Recipe and photo courtesy of www.wellplated.com

Bloody Rum Punch

Donq bloody rum punch recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 (750 mL) bottle rum
  • 1/2 (750 mL) bottle ​red wine​
  • 6 oz ​lime juice (fresh)
  • 6 oz ​triple sec
  • 6 oz​ simple syrup
  • 2 ​limes (sliced into thin wheels)
  • 2 red ​oranges (sliced into thin wheels)

Steps to Make It

  1. In a large punch bowl or pitcher, combine the rum, red wine, lime juice, triple sec, simple syrup, and lime and orange slices.
  2. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours before serving (overnight is better).
  3. Serve over ice in punch glasses and enjoy!
Recipe and photo courtesy of www.thespruceeats.com

Ghouls Night In

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Rim a chilled cocktail glass with caramel syrup, then dip into chopped peanuts. Set aside.
  2. Pour Barefoot Pinot Grigio, vodka, liqueur and chocolate syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well chilled.
  3. Strain into prepared cocktail glass.

Recipe and photo courtesy of www.barefootwine.co.uk

10 Spooky Wines for Hallo-wine!

Halloween is right around the corner and I have the perfect spooky wine recommendations for that creep-tastic costume party, trick-or-treating with the neighborhood parents, or just relaxing like the dead at home.

 

#1. Shinas Estate, $18

Shinas Estate in Victoria, Australia, makes a series of wines with spine-tingling labels, including The Verdict (Cabernet Sauvignon), The Guilty (Shiraz), The Innocent (Viognier), The Executioner (Shiraz, Cabernet, Viognier blend), and Sweet Justice (sparkling Moscato). These are all plump, fruit-forward wines, with The Guilty and Sweet Justice pairing particularly well with Halloween candy.

#2. The Walking Dead, $15

“An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled; there is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Luckily there is wine…”

There are four The Walking Dead wines – Cabernet Sauvignon, Blood Red Blend (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec), Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. Each of these wines features an augmented reality label that comes alive with the Living Wines Label app. I won’t give away what happens in the labels, but if you’re a fan of The Walking Dead TV show, these wines are a must-buy!

#3. Apothic Dark and Apothic Inferno, $15

Apothic Dark is a dangerous romance of Zinfandel, Syrah and Merlot, creating a smooth wine with blueberry, blackberry, coffee and dark chocolate flavors. Apothic Inferno has emerged from the flames with a whiskey soul, having been aged for 60 months in whiskey barrels. The red fruit contains touches of maple and spice.

#4. The Velvet Devil, $12

This deep, dark wine is devilishly good with flavors of red and blue fruit and a silky smooth texture that makes Merlot sexy again.

#5. 19 Crimes The Banished, $10

19 Crimes makes a series of infamous wines featuring labels with British criminals who will tell you their stories in augmented reality label using the Living Wines Label app. These stories are about the 19 Crimes that were punishable by banishing convicts to the Australian penal colony. The Banished Dark Red wine is dominated by Shiraz and supported by Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. “Like the wine rations served on convict ships, every sip deserves to be savored.”

#6. The Culprit, $15

The Culprit is a monster red blend from Sonoma County, CA, that includes 9 different grape varieties! The primary varietals are Syrah, Zinfandel and Petite Syrah, making this a scary big, bold and complex wine.

#7. Phantom, $20

Bogle Vineyards’ Phantom Red is a hauntingly delicious blend of Petite Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvedre. The spectre of this rich, jammy wine with dark fruit, black pepper, spice and vanilla will haunt you long after the last sip.

#8. Orin Swift Palermo, $45

The haunting label that graces Palermo, a Napa Valley red blend (Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec), is a chilling photo of an actual mummified priest wearing a red cape and a black hat, taken by a National Geographic photographer in a 16th century catacomb in Palermo, Sicily, after which the wine is named. The wine is rich, fruit-driven and approachable, with just a touch of oak.

#9. Eternally Silenced, $45

Eternally Silenced, a Pinot Noir from The Prisoner Wine Company in St. Helena, CA, will leave you speechless. This wine has dark red fruit flavors of cranberry and cherry along with herbaceous characters of pine needles and cedar, reminiscent of being chased through a dark forest by who-knows-what in the deepest of night.

#10. Derange, $80

Derange, produced by The Prisoner Wine Company, was made by hand-selecting their most insanely concentrated and intense wines to blend under this label. It is a terrifyingly tasty blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Syrah, Merlot, Syrah and Zinfandel is filled rich black fruit, vanilla and sweet spice flavors.