The Enchanted Vinous Collective: Spooky Wines and Halloween Wisdom With Jorge Garcia and Kevin Keaveney

In Part I of the Enchanted Vinous Collective, I recommended a few bargain spooky wines to bring to your Halloween party that will simultaneously keep you in theme and a few extra dollars in your pocket. Win-Win. On certain occasions, however, you may require a high quality vino for your All Hallows’ Eve exploits. Perhaps you are attending a party hosted by your sommelier and oenophilic friend. In that case, a bargain wine just won’t impress. Or perhaps you prefer to indulge at home with a glass of wine and your favorite cinematic Halloween horror. We have you covered.

To inject qualified expertise into the Halloween dialogue, I sit down with Kevin Keaveney and Jorge Garcia (LOST, Hawaii Five-O), two consummate Halloween super fans and masterminds behind Skeleton Key Hawaii’s unparalleled haunt experience, Mummy: Curse of the Crypt. We sample a few spooky wines from the top shelf while discussing Halloween movies, music and events that are certain satisfy your ghoulish proclivities. Need some inspiration and recommendations for all things Halloween? We have it.

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Wine Country Conflagration: Devastating Wildfires Sweeping Across Northern California

Many readers, including myself, are extremely blessed. Wine brings joy to many of us, and we have the financial means to procure it without much thought or hesitation. With it we celebrate, we toast, we fellowship with friends. Wine is a catalyst for festivity, merriment and conversation.

We colloquially discuss wine in terms of varietal, region or style. This week, however, we are painfully reminded that each glass is unequivocally defined by people. It represents farmers. It represents families. It represents communities with proud traditions and heritage. People like us; families and communities like our own.

Too many of those who labor tirelessly to produce our favorite wines presently find themselves injured, homeless, and with their livelihood entirely dismantled. A state of affairs that is difficult to fathom.

In lieu of a regular post this week, I am compelled to pause and reflect upon, and to raise awareness of, the devastating wildfires sweeping across Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties of Northern California.

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Old World vs New World: The Vinous Deductive Challenge, Revisited

Last week, I provided a rudimentary Guide to Blind Wine Tasting. Taste, hypothesize, repeat. This newfound knowledge was immediately put to the test in a blind wine tasting event for the Friends of Italy Society of Hawaii. Italians unrelentingly boast of their wines as unsurpassed anywhere in the world. They are confident, but are they correct? Time to determine whether they can blindly discern the difference in a crowded and diverse lineup. Challenge presented ...

The event commenced with a few elementary tasting tips, followed by a blind tasting of six wines - three Old World Italian and three New World. Those New World newbies couldn’t possibly keep pace with the refined, elegant wines of Italy. Could they? The patrons, as laudable arbitrators, held the final verdict. Would their vinous paesani blindly prevail?

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Independence Day Musings: Cheers to You, Mr. Jefferson

A celebration of America’s independence is again at hand. Insert excessive patriotism here. In today's current political maelstrom, however, many long for more sensible and dignified [pre-Twitter] days. So let's take it all the way back to the Revolution. In honor of Independence Day, I offer a Founding Fathers retrospective. Join, or die...

Pour yourself a glass of claret and ponder this: with which Founding Father would you most want to spend an evening? Tough choice; the Founding Fathers were an impressive bunch. I will give you a clue regarding my answer: he was quite the wine aficionado (of course I would choose the wino).

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