Skeleton Malbec

Wine: Skeleton Malbec

Grape: Malbec

Region: Patagonia, Argentina

Vintage: 2010

Price: $9.99 per 1-liter bottle

In the glass: Skeleton Malbec is dark as the pitch black night with a dense core going out into a fine blood-red rim definition and sporting high viscosity.

On the nose: It is an immediate onslaught of darker berries crushed up with slate, licorice and earthy minerals, interlaced with lovely notes of cherries jubilee and violet pastilles, as well as hints of oak, red beets, charcoal and phenolics.

On the palate: The wine generates the same feeling a vampire gets when he sinks his fangs into a lovely lady's neck, oozing pure crushed black fruit with plums, cherries and marionberries, then licorice root and pomegranate seeds. The midpalate is all soft and supple, going into a nice finish that lingers with yet more anise and earthy minerals.

Odds and ends: There can be few wines better suited for Halloween celebrations than one named Skeleton. In this case, the wine company that specializes in bringing together fruit from great winegrowing regions and assembling them for the U.S. market, has gotten its bony hands on some great malbec from the very south of Argentina, in the wild and dangerous Patagonia region.

Much like its long deceased Gruner Veltliner sibling of years past, I saw it and tasted it, and I found it too good to be true, as if it were an apparition of a wine. The name aside, this is a seriously good wine for the money, and the fact that you're getting a whole liter of wine doesn't hurt the exposed intestines a bit, nor your cobwebbed wallet as it sells for less than $10 per liter.

Don't be scared by the fact that it is packaged in what appears to be a fatter version of a regular wine bottle, capsule and all, making it all the easier for you to bring along to the party and share with all ghoulish fiends alike.

The ideal wine for any amount of fright night candy, I am happy to bring this Skeleton wine out of the closet and once again recommend it for your Halloween party. Try it before you die

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.