Dark and scary wines for Halloween

October 20, 12:46 PMPhoenix Drinks ExaminerMark Nothaft

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Add extra spirit to your festivities with dark red wines.
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One of the scariest big red wines I’ve tasted in a long time is Earthquake Cabernet Sauvignon from California.

I mean “scary” in the best possible sense, because the wine — made by the same producers of 7 Deadly Zins, Michael-David Vineyards — is absurdly powerful at nearly 16 percent alcohol and chock full of decadent black fruit, chewy tobacco and earth impressions. I wanted a knife and fork to work through it and the New York strip I grilled.

Wines like Earthquake are ready-made for Halloween. The holiday just seems to call for big, brooding, dark wines like earthy, fruit-soaked zinfandel, shiraz-syrah, petit sirah, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec from Argentina. We couldn’t even consider these wines a month ago, but now that evening temperatures have dipped into the 60s, it’s time to pull them out of the cellar.

A Halloween tradition in our neighborhood includes a few fellow dads and I sitting around sampling scary dark red wines or cocktails and noshing on equally startling foods like liverwurst, stinky cheeses and “monster” mashed potato salad (think extra calories with added bacon and more cheese), while the kids and moms spook the neighborhood and go trick-or-treating. After a few rounds of tasting the inky, dark wines, our teeth resemble Michael Keaton’s in “Beetlejuice.” Add eye makeup, spike our hair and we could give kids nightmares.

Here are a few dark and scary red wines I’m considering serving this year. You should, too.

• Mettler Family Vineyards 2007 ‘Epicenter’ Lodi Old-Vine Zinfandel, California. Perfect example of a “scary” big wine. Achieves juicy fruit-bomb status at nearly 16 percent alcohol, but surprisingly smooth and complex. Family farms are also known for sustainability and organic practices. $25.

• Taltarni 2003 Cephas, Australia. Can’t mention big, brooding red wines without including a mammoth shiraz from Australia. In this case, the shiraz is blended with 19 percent cabernet sauvignon, which only shapes this bottle into a moonlit work of art. Love the intense, concentrated fruit. This will turn your teeth black. $40.

• Wild Hare Cabernet Sauvignon, California, from Panther Rock Wine Company. The value play of the group filled with jammy berry, black pepper and mocha notes. $7.

• 2006 BIN 36 Merlot, California, from Hahn Family Wines. One of the best food wines of the group. Chock full of ripe berry-cherry impressions and mineral notes. Am seeing grilled lamb chops and veggies in this bottle’s future. $18.

EXTRA SIPS: Napa Valley’s Jarvis Winery recently sent over a sample of “Will Jarvis’ Science Project,” taken from the producer’s 2007 cabernet franc harvest and a nod to a high school science project from his son many years earlier. The stunning 95-5 cab franc-merlot blend, aged in small new French oak barrels for nine months, blew me and a few dinner party guests off our feet last week. The wine exhibited great finesse and soft tannins and rich fruit flavors. Find a few bottles and stash for a special occasion. $105. Cheers!