Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Third Annual Carpe Vinum Spoooky Halloween Selection! That’s right! That SPOOOKIEST of holidays is right around the corner (literally if you’re looking at the calendar and consider the end of the week the “corner”. . y’know. . because of the squarish corner-shape of the boxes that show the days? Too esoteric? Probably. . .but I digress. . .) Halloween is one of the most fun holidays since it’s a chance to dress up, eat bits of candy and get a little Wild! And that’s the theme this year, a “Where the Wild Things Are!” selection! And where are these Wild Things? Tomorrow they’re here!

Of course we all remember everyone’s favorite children’s book! We also remember that famous “Wild Thing” song that has been played ad-nauseum for about the last 40 years. So I’ve collected a few “Wild Things” to taste here tomorrow, since I saw the fascination with wildness in life and the Jekyll and Hyde elixir that we know as wine!

First off we have the Chateau Routas “Cabernet That Wild Boars Prefer” which gets its name from the wild boars that roam the properties at Chateau Routas, feasting on the Cabernet grapes at night. At least, they apparently prefer the Cabernet grapes. At least we can infer that from the name. At any rate. . .Wild Boars!

Next up it’s the Rabid Red, brought to you by the same folks as the Cartlidge & Brown wines. It’s a tremendous blend of quite a few things. Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Viognier. Viognier? That’s pretty Wild, eh? Think “Rabid” is a stretch for “Wild”? It seems pretty wild to me. . .many wild animals are Rabid as well. . .perhaps a thesaurus might tell.

Wild Horses bring us the next wild Zinfandel. Wild horses couldn’t drag me away from this wine! Mainly because I’m allergic to horses, and I would be more driven away by the sneezing.

Next up is for the Monster in all of us! It’s Norman Vineyards “The Monster” Zinfandel. Many Zinfandels are described as Monsters. This one is appropriately named so. Can Monsters be Wild? Of course! Can Monsters be tamed? Maybe. . .they’d still be pretty wild, though.

Rounding out the fifth position is the Murphy-Goode “Wild Card” Claret. A Claret, at least in this instance, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. The Wild part of it is the Card part. What exactly would that be? Well it seems that the folks at Murphy Goode have a gambling problem, what with the “Wild Card” Claret, the “Liars Dice” Zinfandel, “Snake Eyes” Zinfandel, and “The Deuce” Sauvignon Blanc.

For the final two we have, even more specifically, a couple “Wild Things”. First up from California is Carol Shelton’s “Wild Thing” Zinfandel. Is it any wonder why Zinfandels like this are referred to as Wild or Monstrous? It makes sense to me. Closely following that “Wild Thing” is the Zerba Cellars “Wild Thing” Red Blend from Walla Walla. It’s a wild blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc. And I’ve had it before. It’s pretty wild, after all. And it has a wild Zebra on the label. Zerba, Zebra. Yep! You got it!

So on this one Holiday of the year, we can dress in our different costumes, and the wines can as well. But underneath it all we know that it’s just our wild side trying to come out. Sometimes a little wine can help, as well! And a little Wild wine can help Wildly!

So Friday, October 28th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Feeling Wild?!
Chateau Routas 2002 Cabernet That Wild Boars Prefer, Provence, France
Rabid Red 2003 Red Blend, California
Wild Horses 2002 Zinfandel, Paso Robles, California
Norman Vineyards 2002 The Monster Zinfandel, Paso Robles, California
Murphy Goode 2002 Wild Card Claret, Alexander Valley, California

More Wild Things!!
Carol Shelton 2003 Wild Thing Zinfandel, Mendocino, California
Zerba Cellars 2003 Wild Thing, Walla Walla, Washington

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours
Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!

And in a small end-of-the-newsletter-shameless-self-promotion, considering I am a musician as well as a wine guy, I will be playing a gig just after the tasting at Sabala’s at Mt. Tabor, straight over on Hawthorne. I’ll be playing bass with the guys I’ve been playing with for years under the name Sylvias Ghost (Spooooky!), however, tomorrow we’ll be playing under the name Floating Pointe. We’ll be on early-ish, around 9:30 or 10:00. For a little preview, check out: http://www.floatingpointemusic.com/

Next Friday tasting is Oregon Wines!

M