Monthly Archives: October 2015

Here is my final entry for the Halloween season.  I have picked an appropriate wine more for the occasion than the quality. This is not to say the wine is bad, but it is not something you might seek out during the rest of the year. The wine is Werewolf Pinot Noir and the sale price is $7.99. It tastes like a rustic, light to medium bodied wine with substantial tannins. There are notes of tart strawberries, raspberries and sour cherries.

Fermented in stainless steel, and aged in French oak, this is no wimpy Merlot.  Produced by Charles Smith who seems to make most things he touches interesting. The Velvet Devil Merlot is a Washington state wine that is truly Merlot with only a smidgen of Cabernet Sauvignon. Like its name, this Merlot is velvety with a mysterious, devilish blackberry jam color. On the nose there are ample dark fruits like boysenberry and blackberry along with sweet chocolate cherry with faint notes of cedar and tobacco.

Today I begin the 3 part series on Halloween treats to pour. Because of the craze for all things Apple this time of year, I thought it only appropriate to step outside the wine world and offer up a cider. There are several varieties and even flavors of alcohol based (hard) ciders that range from sweet to very dry and still to sparkling.

The lure of French value wines continues with a red Bordeaux because …well, how can it not?  How can a bargain hunting wine drinker turn down a Fall deal like this, especially a French wine with Vermont in the title?

Continuing my blog on French bargain wines leads us to La Forge Estate Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Languedoc region.  Both these wines are labeled by type of grape rather than region possibly to attract more import drinkers.