Wednesday, July 20, 2011

BLOOD OF THE VINES: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD


Blood Of The Vines

Wine Goes To The Movies
with NowAndZin.com and TrailersFromHell.com


It's easy to see, by browsing through the Trailers From Hell, there's a great love for movies that scare.  One of the scariest is 1968's "Night of the Living Dead."  This is no Sunday school picnic.

This is where the dead rise and walk among us.  The mass hysteria caused by a zombie attack tops even the scariest doorbuster sale on Black Friday.  There are some doors busted in this glorious black and white fright fest, but the only thing half off is your arm.

The movie gets some of its authentic creepiness from the Evans City Cemetery north of Pittsburgh, where some of it was shot.  All in all, it's true what they say: nothing ruins a perfectly good Sunday like a zombie attack.  Just listen to the bloodcurdling screams!  How’d you like to have been at THAT foley session?

While on the subject of movie biz inside stuff, I understand the zombies eating bodies were actually eating roast ham covered in chocolate sauce.  Chocolate sauce looks a lot like blood in black and white.  A lot.

Before we lose our appetites completely, let's move on to the wine pairing.

What kind of wine does a decent, hard-workin’ zombie want after a full night’s work?  All that trudging around like a slightly less animated Frankenstein, mutilating people and creating a general disturbance makes a zombie powerful thirsty.

This one is easy. Return Of The Living Red is the perfect wine for these slow-motion monsters.

The 2006 vintage of this Australian blood-red wine Is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Touriga Nacional.  That's a Portuguese grape, by the way, which at one time was also grown in Australia's McLaren Vale.  Nearly all of those vines were ripped out, though, and Touriga Nacional became - at least for Australia - a dead grape.

You see where this is going, right?  Redhead Studios brought the grape back to life and now it walks the earth among us - the Return Of The Living Red.  The ancient vines which bore the grapes actually appear to be dead in some parts, they say, and the fruit is intensely concentrated.

Lavender and leather grace the nose, with currant and blackberry flavors, which I understand are favorites of zombies everywhere.  In case you’re wondering, it pairs well with roast ham and chocolate sauce.  There are only a few bottles left, mainly in the Chicago area.  You’ll have to move faster than a zombie to get one.

And they don’t serve it at Beekman’s Diner.

Zombie Options:

d'Arenberg "The Dead Arm" Shiraz 2006, McLaren Vale, South Australia - $43

Midnight Sun "Mayhem" Belgian Double IPA, Alaska - $8

or, make a Zombie cocktail. Here's a tasty recipe.


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