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Halloween Wines - deep, bloody and full dark
| Author: Bill Hughes | Published: 30th October 2012 21:05 |
Black cats and goblins and broomsticks and ghosts, / Covens of witches with all of their hosts / You may think they scare me, / You're probably right / Black cats and goblins / On Halloween night / Trick or treat!
It's dark out there and you've returned from a Halloween party with the kids. After telling them a few scary stories before bedtime you're ready to face the long hours of All Saint's Eve as it heads towards the Witching Hour, and as the spirits gather outside the door it's time to choose a spirit of your own that'll - just maybe - keep the ghosts at bay and your ghoulies warm.
Not a Christmas wine then!
The ultimate Halloween wine surely has to be BAT'S BLOOD, produced in Transylvania by Cramele Recas, a winery bought from the Romanian authorities in 2000 and has had €20 million invested in it since then. It's now making state of the art wines across various price ranges, and it's a big, serious concern. Bat's Blood is a Merlot produced by Aussie Hartley Smithers, a senior winemaker with Cassela - who make Yellow Tail, which is about as unscary as you can get . But never mind that - it comes in a coffin-shaped box! It costs £9.99 and I have no idea how it tastes, but I'd love to have it on my Halloween table this week-end. This is a company you might want a stake in!
The scariest night of the year calls for big, comforting reds and Shiraz should do the trick (or treat) so I'll recommend two monsters - Gestos Shiraz 2011 Finca Flichman from Argentina, and Wirra Wirra Church Block - okay so that's really a Cabernet/Shiraz/Merlot blend - from McClaren Vale.
The Gestos has a wonderful violet colour in the glass, and a nose of red berries, tobacco and spice. It's also quite high in alcohol at 14% so it's one for sharing around the cauldron. It's big and bold and full of fruit and those distinctive spices of clove and pepper come right through to the finish. A perfect wine for a Shiraz lover and will give your favourite Oz Shiraz a run for its money. Majestic Wine's 'two for' offer is a ridiculously cheap £6.49 - or £8.99 for one.
From Australia comes the 2010 Church Block - a junior cousin of my favourite Australian wine ever, Dead Ringer Cabernet Sauvignon (it was called The Angelus but had to change its name due to Chateau D'Angelus, a Grand Cru from St Emilion, taking exception) Dead Ringer will set you back a terrifying £35 per bottle via Ocado or the Wine Society, but the Block is available via Majestic Wine's 'two for' offer at £9.99 or £12.49 for one. It's all cigar box on the nose, with liquorice and fennel, plums and cherry everywhere else. These Wirra Wirra wines are fantastic - if not cheap - but once you've tried one you'll never look another Banrock Station in the eye again.
Halloween burger - rare, bloody and made of the
best 'stake'
To go with the wine let's keep things simple and make a batch of Halloween Burgers. Mix your prime minced beef with grated red onion, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and an egg and shape into whatever size patty takes your fancy. Get the barbie out - on Halloween and Guy Fawkes you need to be outside for the atmosphere! - and grill them bloody on the inside, cremated on the outside. What makes them Halloween burgers? Well, take a cheese slice and cut out a pumpkin mouth, nose and eyes, then lay on top of your burger until it melts to a pumpkin shape. Smother with relish or ketchup and scare your cholesterol to death! I didn't make the ones in the picture - but they are my inspiration.
Music can only be "Agents of Fortune" by the Blue Oyster Cult, an album that contains "Don't Fear The Reaper" of course. Scare yourself silly and have a Happy Halloween!
"Come on baby...and she had no fear
And she ran to him...then they started to fly
They looked backward and said good-by...she had become like they are
She had taken his hand...she had become like they are
Come on baby...don't fear the reaper "
(c) Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser, 1976
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