Halloween: Battle of the Reds

Too old to go trick-or-treating? Unless you plan on taking your kids through the neighborhood on Halloween or you're just young at heart, you might miss out on all the fun. But it doesn't have to be that way. In between handing out candy to the 100th and 101st gang of hungry little ghosts and goblins to grace your front door, why not indulge yourself with some treats too? Maybe a bottle of wine (specifically a red wine to keep with Halloween rules, of course)?

But which red to choose? We did another fun "winosphere" monitoring experiment to answer this question. We tracked Halloween-related conversations involving several red wine varietals across social media channels over the past two weeks. This is what we found:















From these measurements, it looks like Merlot is the most buzz-worthy Halloween varietal this year, but you can't really go wrong here. The only exception is Cabernet Franc, which doesn't seem to have the most Halloween spirit.

In addition to the extra-spooky wines we featured in our last post, here are some suggestions for red wines that could pass the test for your Halloween party's "blood punch" or provide some much needed relief in the midst of your unpaid candy-distributing labor. Make sure to check out the community reviews.

Tin Roof Merlot 2005
A classic plush texture and delicious black cherry and plum flavors make our sumptuous Merlot both delicious on its own and a versatile food wine. Enjoy it with beef, lamb, roast duck with cherry sauce, red-sauce pastas, black olive and mushroom pizzas, and soft-ripening cheeses.

Ch. Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
The Indian Wells Cabernet is our warm climate ripe, jammy Cabernet. The 2005 bottling is no exception. The wine exudes sweet blackberry pie and vanilla aromas and flavors with loads of complexity. This is our big bold, obvious Cabernet and after just two vintages, it has quickly become a fan favorite. Wonderful Cab from such esteemed growers as Indian Wells, Jones, Washington Fruit and even Cold Creek Vineyard are woven together with a little Syrah to make a wine that says boldly 'I'm from Washington.'

Craggy Range Winery Te Muna Road Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006
Craggy Range Te Muna Road Pinot Noir is highly colored with bright ruby red in colour. Savoury spice notes are accented by perfumed aromas of violets, red cherry, blackberry and ruby grapefruit on the nose. Complex flavours of cherry, root spice, smoke and florals predominate the textural and creamy palate. The finish is long with redfruit and spice drawn out by the fine, silky tannin structure. Delicious with poultry, game and lamb dishes. Drink now through 2011.

Cline Los Carneros Syrah 2005
Dark, rich and extremely flavorful, this wine offers deep plum and cherry notes accented with aromas and flavors of vanilla and coffee. The combination of tannin, acid, fruit and great mouth feel come together to create a balanced and robust wine.

Wine Brands and Social Media

Yesterday, the Cork Board wrote an interesting piece on defining brands in the wine world. Using a social media monitoring tool, they were able to track mentions of "Napa Valley" in online media (such as blogs, microblogs like Twitter, and rich media sites) to find which words were most associated with the Napa Valley "brand." Words such as "cabernet" and "vineyards" came up often in results, indicating these are hot topics in conversations about Napa Valley.

Over the past several weeks, we've also been monitoring the "winosphere." We found this first attempt at aggregating data on brand ownership so intriguing that we did some additional research of our own. Staying on the Napa theme, we wanted to compare the online buzz generated by several Napa Valley wineries over the past month. We chose five major Napa wineries: Robert Mondavi, Beringer, Sterling, Beaulieu, and Rubicon and discovered the following:

These results provide a glimpse into the relative prominence of these wineries or their relative share of the ownership of the larger Napa Valley brand in online conversations. Mondavi was at the front of the pack, meaning the Mondavi brand was mentioned the most in social media posts, followed by Beringer and Sterling.


Approaching this from another angle, we determined the relative prominence of these five wineries within discussions about Cabernet wines. Who is generating the most buzz when it comes to Napa Valley cabs? We found similar results to the graph above:















Is this just a coincidence, or can we use this data to come to general conclusions about brand power in social media? We're interested to hear your thoughts, and we'll be checking back with the Cork Board to see what else they are cooking up.

All of these Napa Valley brands and many more are available on our website.

Or get a taste of the most talked about Napa Valley wine brand, Robert Mondavi.