October in wine country is an exciting whirlwind, filled with harvest parties and crush parties as Napa Valley wineries celebrate the end of the summer growing season. The month also signals the beginning of the holiday season and welcomes the merrymaking to come. Whether you celebrate October with treats or tricks, make it a celebration to remember with these great harvest time ideas.

A chilling idea for Halloween. A Halloween Wine Tasting party:
Invite your wine loving friends, scatter some pumpkins and candles around to set the scene, and then break out the wine! Whether you serve simple or Halloween-themed appetizers like this Mummy Baked Brie or cheese shaped like a pumpkin, buffet style serving is a great way to have your guests serve themselves.

  • Try a Halloween themed Personalized Wine. Choose a few varietals to suit everyone’s taste buds or a case of a particular varietal. Upload your favorite scary image and text and serve during your party.
  • Have these helpful tools on hand for easy serving and prepping during your party, and afterwards if you happen to have wine left over.

Halloween brings out the spirited fun in us all. An idea for a simply spooky cocktail:

Hocus Pocus Fizz
Recipe and image courtesy of DrinkedIn.

Hocus Pocus Fizz

  • 1 cup pineapple juice
  • ½ cup rum
  • ¼ teaspoon coconut extract
  • Red food coloring
  • Yellow food coloring
  • 1 bottle (750 ml) of sparkling white wine. Recommended: Petit Cadeau Semi-Seco Sparkling
  • Coarse sugar

To rim glasses with orange tinted sugar: place 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small, re-sealable plastic bag. Add 5 drops of red food color and 5 drops of yellow food color. Seal the bag and press or knead the sugar until the color is evenly distributed. Pour the sugar onto a shallow plate. Dip the rims of the glasses in a bowl of water, then into the sugar to coat. Then mix the pineapple juice, rum, coconut extract and food colors in a measuring cup for easy pouring. For each cocktail, pour 2 oz. of this juice mixture into the glasses. Top each glass with 4 oz. of sparkling white wine.

Recipe and image courtesy of DrinkedIn.

For more ideas and tips for the month, follow WineShop At Home’s HARVEST board on Pinterest, and follow @WineShopAtHome on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter.