The Vampire label, bull’s blood, eye of the toad, a drunken one night stand with an ugly witch (sound familiar?). Who knew wine is as much a part of Halloween as goblins and ghosts?

Sleeping with Witches

It’s hard to have ghoulish thoughts about wine. But after my assistant, James Owen, asked if I planned to serve any Halloween wines, I decided to do some research. I was fully expecting to reach a ghostly dead end.

To my scary surprise, however, I found that wine could be as much a part of Halloween as witches and goblins. To begin, there is the Vampire label—a line of wines produced in Transylvania, the home of Dracula himself. These Romanian imports include cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, pinot grigio and pinot noir, and sell for about $7.

I did not discover this in time to find a retailer and experiment, but at that price you can sink your teeth in and have a little spooky fun. Transylvanian winemaking goes back to ancient times and is mentioned by Plato. Legend has it that in the first century B.C., King Burbista destroyed the vineyards to discourage foreign invaders who were making an early attempt at wine tourism. Bella Lugosi, who played Count Dracula as a sophisticated, sexy guy and made him the definitive vampire of all time in the 1931 film, “Dracula,” said, “I never drink wine.”

Perhaps he would have made an exception if the Vampire label had been imported then. Another interesting Halloween choice is Egri Bikaver, a Hungarian wine that translates as bull's blood—and there is a legend with this one too. (This is Eastern Europe, after all.) In 1552, Eger, a baroque city in Hungary’s Beech Mountains, was under siege by strong Ottoman armies. The soldiers and citizens, in a happy hour for the history books, drank large quantities of the local, deep red wine, fortifying themselves and also spilling plenty of wine. This breach of manners can be excused by the circumstances and a wartime lack of cocktail napkins. Word spread among the Turks that the red liquid all over the

Hungarian’s chests and beards and armor was bull’s blood, which they drank to make themselves fierce. The Turks beat a quick retreat from these indomitable and bullish warriors, and the Ottoman advance into Europe was halted temporarily. Egri Bikaver, which is also the name of the winery, produces Bull’s Blood in the oak cellars of Eger, supposedly in the manner it has been made for 500 years. The wine is a blend of native and international red grapes, and is simple and unpretentious, with a silky feel, and of course dark in color. It’s lusty and lively, and it can be quite enjoyable if you know what to expect. It too retails for about $7.

Getting into the mood, I found a winery in Virginia named Grey Ghost and a label in California called Pierre’s Ghost. Toad Hollow, a winery in California, makes “Eye of the Toad” rosé. And a Fingers Lakes winery produces the Red Newt label.

In “Mother of Toads,” a French “weird tale,” the hideously ugly witch plies young Pierre with mulled wine and tricks him into a night of lovemaking. Considering her cupboard and the choices he faced—half dried newts, vipers and bat wings—it wasn’t a bad decision though it was an awful surprise when he woke up in the morning. Restaurants in Viet Nam not only serve bat in various forms (baked, curried, bat rice soup), they offer a bat wine. Something told me not to investigate their cellar methods. An online store for witch supplies (bells, brooms, cauldrons, etc.) sensibly recommends ceramic chalices for wine rather than untreated metals like pewter.

But if you really want to get into a little black magic, you might put together a witch’s bottle. Place in an old wine bottle some pins, needles and rosemary. Fill with red wine, cork the bottle and drip some wax from a black or red candle to seal it. Bury it in a far corner of your yard and draw a pentagram in the dirt above it. It will then destroy negativity and evil coming your way. The pins and needles impale evil, the wine drowns it, and rosemary chases it from your property. (Don’t tell your neighbors you’re doing this.) Optional ingredients according to the recipe include bent rusty nails, rose thorns, and three drops of your own blood.

One more thing. You have to chant this while you work.

Pins, needles, rosemary, wine;
In this witches bottle of mine.
Guard against harm and enmity
This is my will, so mote it be!

Happy Hallo-wine!