Wickedly Good; Pairing Dracaena Wines with Horror Films

Halloween is my all time favorite holiday. I have always loved it. Dressing up as a character – of course my costumes were often vampires, werewolves, or horror film characters such as Freddy Krueger or Jason Vorhees. I also have a Halloween ritual. I sit down in the dark, with a bottle of wine and watch a marathon of horror films.

To me, horror films fall into two different categories; ridiculous and truly bone chilling.  Under the ridiculous category are those films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, IT, Carrie. These, although extremely gory and some say horrifying are unrealistic. The villain comes back over and over, miraculously reincarnated to bring new terror to the next generation. These are the movies that you find yourself screaming at the screen; “Why would you do that?” Often, the one survivor from the previous movie is the first to kick it in the subsequent film. Therefore they are funny to me. I love these movies. 

The films that are terrifying to me are the ones that are based on human personalities.  A perfect example is “The Strangers.” If you are unfamiliar with this film, the IMDB premise is “A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.” The reason these films haunt me can be wrapped up by the final line in the movie. After being viciously stabbed, Liv Tyler’s character, Kristin asks the people “Why?” Their answer was simply, “Because you were home.” There is no predictability in these movies. It is just a random act and that is terrifying to me.

With Halloween approaching, I thought it would be fun to pair our wines with some of my favorite movies. I hope you enjoy this Halloween treat. 

“Calling it a simple schoolgirl crush was like saying a Rolls-Royce was a vehicle with four wheels, something like a hay-wagon. She did not giggle wildly and blush when she saw him, nor did she chalk his name on trees or write it on the walls of the Kissing Bridge. She simply lived with his face in her heart all the time, a kind of sweet, hurtful ache. She would have died for him..” – Stephen King IT

Because of this quote, I thought it was appropriate to pair with our 2022 Cordyline Rosé. So many people turn their nose up to Rosé. It gets wrapped up with so many other wines that it is thought to be generic and sweet. Our Rosé is always a surprise to people in the tasting room. When I offer the Cordyline, they say “I don’t like Rosé.” I always tell them that there is a dump bucket and I won’t take it personally. More often than not… .it doesn’t get dumped.

Our 2022 Cordyline Rosé is a 50/50 blend of Grenache and Tempranillo. My thought process behind this blend is simple. Grenache is a lovely wine. It has wonderful aromatics, but it doesn’t have thick skins or strong acids. Thereby it is light in color and doesn’t last long on the palate.  Tempranillo is a 180 degree turn from Grenache. It doesn’t have a lot of aromatics, but with its thick skins and high acid, it allows the palate to enjoy for a long finish. Together they make a perfectly delicious wine. I call it my Ying Yang wine. 

The 1980 John Carpenter film, The Fog is one of the eeriest films ever. The movie has some serious actors in it, including Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau and John Houseman. The IMDB synopsis for this movie states, “An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.”

Joh Carpenter is a genius at building up tension, plus the music is absolutely bone chilling. These unknowing town dwellers (which was filmed here on the Central Coast)  watch as a daunting fog begins to roll into their town. This is not exactly a scary thing as it happens all the time, except this time the fog is carrying something in it – the ghosts of a ship that went down in the fog exactly 100 years ago. 

Chenin Blanc can be rather bland. It too, has gotten a bad wrap. At one time it was the most planted white grape variety in California. But the majority of it was ripped up and replanted to Chardonnay.  When planted in the right environment; silty soils, cool breezes and plenty of water, it can be a beautiful wine.  This is why we choose to source fruit from Clarksburg. Jancis Robinson wrote that if you take the Loire Valley out of France and place it in California, it would be Clarksburg. So, that is where we go! 

When it comes time to harvesting our Chenin Blanc, we look for clusters that are overripe, underripe and perfectly ripe. This gives more dimension to the wine.  In the winery, we ferment and age in both stainless steel and oak. This adds additional dimension to the wine. When it was time to blend for bottling, we absolutely loved the aromatics and the palate of the wine and didn’t want to mess with it. So we chose not to filter it. This makes our wine a little hazy. So, in honor of this supernatural movie, I am recommending our 2022 Chenin Blanc.  

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original) features the cannibalistic and murderous Sawyer family and is one of my all-time favorite horror films. Bubba, aka Leatherface, dancing with his chainsaw is an iconic scene. Although some believe that it is based on a true family, it has been stated that it is not. However, the writer says that the story comes from a compilation of stories in the news and Leatherface is very loosely based on Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley.

As they say, you can’t choose your family you just have to deal with them. Some families are a lot to deal with, like the Sawyers, but in the case of Cabernet Franc, the family is blissfully happy. You may know that Cabernet Franc naturally crossed with Sauvignon Blanc to give us Cabernet Sauvignon. (read the love story here) however, less known members of the family tree are Merlot (Cabernet Franc x Magdeleine Noire de s Charentes), Carmenéré (Cabernet Franc x Gros Cabernet) Hondarrabi Beltza (Cabernet Franc x unknown) and Morenoa, an almost extinct variety (Cabernet Franc x unknown.)

Our 2021 Cinnabari is the ideal pairing for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as it is dedicated to the family of Cabernet Franc.  Our self imposed rule for this wine is that each vintage the blend will only consist of family members of Cabernet Franc. The name is somewhat of an inside joke for us as we know that Cabernet Franc is often confused for its offspring and is relegated to the shadows of its progeny.  Similarly, Dracaena Cinnabari is a relative of Dracaena Draco, however is a completely different species. Dracaena Draco is from the Canary Islands while Dracaena Cinnabari is from Yemen and is often confused for the species Draco. 

The Invisible Man is sheer terror on a different level. The IMDB synopsis explains “When Cecilia’s abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.” It isn’t an easy task for someone in an abusive relationship to leave. It takes great courage. But imagine, you find the courage but you are still being abused by that person, but you can’t see them and no one believes you. 

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Unlike the original Invisible Man, there isn’t any serum or scientific experiment making this man evil. Instead, it is just an evil man, donning a tech savvy suit to make himself invisible with the sole goal of finding a way to continue to torment his girlfriend. He creates an environment where her friends label her as paranoid and ultimately her support systems are no longer there, leaving her with an even more abusive situation; a mental one. In the end, she proves herself to be the stronger person by turning the tables and using his invisible suit to kill him. She persisted and stayed true to herself and showed that she didn’t need other people, she can take care of herself. 

Staying true is exactly what our Classic Cabernet Franc is all about. We started our journey to show that Cabernet Franc is worthy of being a single varietal wine. Upon our initial release, we created Cab Franc Day to spotlight that Cabernet Franc is more than a blending gape. Every year, we celebrate the grape on December 4th; the anniversary of Cardinal Richelieu’s death. With each person who enters the tasting room, we explain what is so special about Cabernet Franc. We are the true ambassadors of the grape and we continue to taut its glories! (Plus our consistent 90+ ratings in those ten years is thrilling!)

Is there any movie more chilling than the original Exorcist? When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life. (IMDB) It is consistently rated as one of the scariest films of all time. It is thought to be the most influential American horror movie ever made. The movie is frightening from the get go and continues to intensify as the movie progresses. 

Just as The Exorcist is evil in its purest form, our Reserve Cabernet Franc is as pure Cabernet Franc as can be. Not only is it 100% Cabernet Franc, it is a single clone. It truly is Mother Nature in a bottle. Currently, this wine is only available to our CHALK CLUB members. It will be released to the public on December 4th; Cab Franc Day. (preorder)  When we harvest our Cabernet Franc, we keep all our clones separate during fermenting and aging. When it comes time to blend for bottling, we begin with our Reserve Clone and choose the percentages of which barrels we want. Any wine that does not make it into the Reserve is then blended with our other clones to create the Classic Cabernet Franc. This wine will grab you from the first sip and continue as you progress through the glass (and bottle.)

Do you have a favorite horror film? Share your thoughts or your suggested pairings by leaving a comment! And most of all have a spectacularly spooky Halloween! 

~Slàinte!

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Dracaena Wines has received consistent 90+ ratings and multiple Double Gold medals. Click image to order yours today and let Dracaena Wines Turn Your Moments into Great Memories!