One of the world’s oldest holidays—dating back 2,000 years—Halloween still delights children and adults alike. Whether you go all out decorating your home with cobwebs, tombstones, and flying witches, or just take the annual trip to the pumpkin patch and dole out Butterfingers to trick-or-treaters, Halloween is America’s second-most popular holiday, after Christmas.
Here on the Central Coast, we adults have some options geared toward the “over 21 crowd” in Wine Country.
We give our kids permission to eat handfuls of candy on Halloween, but here’s your opportunity to indulge your sweet tooth and penchant for wine. This All Hallows’ Eve, treat yourself to a grown-up version of trick-or-treating at Riverbench Winery in Santa Maria.
Try the perennial Halloween favorite—candy corn—with a glass of Chardonnay. Or pop a Reece’s peanut butter cup or caramel in your mouth, swish it around, and wash it down with Pinot Noir. You’ll do that and more at Riverbench’s third annual Halloween Candy and Wine Pairing, running through Oct. 31. They’ve created a candy-centric menu with their wines in mind.
While some wine purists may cringe at the thought, the experience may prove you wrong.
“The peanut butter cup and Pinot Noir can actually be pretty delicious,” said Laura Mohseni, Riverbench Winery general manager.
See how the wine stands up to the thick caramel and chocolate flavors in a Twix bar or the sweet, vanilla marshmallow taste of candy corn—which I tried and surprisingly enjoyed.
“None of them are the best pairings in the world, I’ll put it that way,” Mohseni said. “It’s just for fun, to have a good time and enjoy the spirit of Halloween.
“For something a little different, we put a lemon Starburst candy with our Bedrock Chardonnay, which is our stainless steel Chardonnay,” she continued. “It’s nice and bright and acidic, and so the flavor is kind of echoed in the candy.”
Hershey’s Miniatures, the old standby of Halloween candy, receives a fun new lease on life when it’s paired with the Mesa Pinot Noir. Because this wine is red, and thus has a slightly fuller body, it’s not overwhelmed by the chocolate.
The tasting room staff will be in costume for Halloween, greeting all winery-hopping ghosts, vampires, and zombies on the wine trail.
Wine tasting at Riverbench is $10 per person, with no extra charge for the candy, until Oct. 31. Riverbench Winery is at 6020 Foxen Canyon Road in Santa Maria.
For something less sweet and more diabolical, look to Cottonwood Canyon Winery, where they’re pairing wine with a Halloween “homicide.”
On Saturday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 9 p.m., Cottonwood will be host to “Halloween at the Cave,” a night of dinner mystery theater.
The premise is this: A troupe of six radio actors comes to a party at the winery’s cave to perform live radio broadcasts of their Five Minute Mysteries. All goes as planned until the cast of kooky characters discovers a dead body and everyone is thrust into a classic murder mystery. Actors from PCPA and the Great American Melodrama make up the troupe, which includes a “bumbling detective,” promising an evening of hilarity.
Partygoers will have a chance to interact with the actors, giving clues and helping to solve the “crime.”
Five courses of small plates will be paired with Cottonwood Canyon wine. Enjoy the Barrel Select Chardonnay with sautéed scallops and end the meal with a chocolate delicacy balanced by the Dessert Syrah. Winery owner Norman Beko said the beauty of wine and food pairing is “you take two good things, put them together, and make them better.”
Costumes are optional—but preferred—and the guest with the best Halloween costume goes home with a prize: a magnum of wine.
Tickets are $79 per person. Sign up as soon as possible at 937-VINE. Cottonwood Canyon is at 3940 Dominion Road in Santa Maria.
World-class rock ’n’ rollers perform at Costa de Oro Winery’s Halloween party on Friday, Oct. 28, from 5 to 8 p.m.
The rock duo Lawless and Dean will entertain patrons at the tasting room’s “Halloween Friday Wine Down.” Grammy Award nominee Terry Lawless is the keyboardist for the legendary band U2, and musician Michael Dean has toured with numerous international acts. The two Santa Maria residents are local favorites.
Patrons are encouraged to come in costume, and the best three Halloween costumes will be rewarded with prizes. The crowd will decide the winners by vote.
Also, bring your carved pumpkins. The best jack o’ lantern will be rewarded, too. (No pumpkin carving at the tasting room, please.)
Costa de Oro Winery tasting room is at 1331 South Nicholson Ave. in Santa Maria. For more information, visit cdowinery.com or call 922-1468.
Up the 101 in Paso Robles, a decade-long Halloween tradition continues spookier than ever. Eberle Winery’s wine caves, decorated for Halloween, are Haunted Caves on Oct. 28 and 29 from 5 to 9 p.m.
Parents can enjoy the complimentary wine tasting, including Eberle’s standout Cabernet Sauvignon, in the tasting room, while kids older than 10 can explore the caves underground. Described as darker, noisier, and eerier each year, the Haunted Caves are professionally lit for frightening effect. There’s even a scary stilt walker and other ghouls and goblins lurking in the shadows.
Eberle Winery has a professional face painter coming to make up faces, as well as carnival games and candy for the little kids.
This year, the entire $5 donation per person goes to Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, which hosts local foster children, burn survivors, and kids with HIV/AIDS. Every Halloween, Eberle collects about $5,000 from the Haunted Caves, giving it all to a local charity.
Eberle Winery is at 3810 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles. For more information, visit eberlewinery.com or call 238-9607.
Wendy Thies Sell hates Halloween horror movies but likes eating roasted pumpkin seeds. Toss her the salt at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 3, 2011.