Bottles of wine on a spooky Halloween themed table set

WINE 101

Bottle for Boos: Wine Recommendations for your favorite Halloween Movie 

October 18, 2023

It’s the season of ghouls, goblins, and slightly questionable taste. But even more so, it’s the season to unapologetically binge horror movies. We’ve taken the top five horror subgenres and paired them with wines so you can sip while you simultaneously get spooked.

Paranormal & Possession

Whether they haunt houses, possess dolls, or make indie VHS tapes, there’s nothing friendly about these ghosts. This subgenre is filled with cheap jump scares accompanied by a soundtrack of eerie noises. Pair these movies with Sauvignon Blanc so you have something light and refreshing to help calm you down when the suspense of an extended hallway shot with the sound of children’s laughter gets too intense.

Monsters

Leave behind the sparkly high-schoolers and bring on the classic vampire tropes! Included in this category are abnormally giant animals, imaginative creatures with too many tentacles, laughably slow-walking zombies, and vampires with a surprising weakness to garlic. Since you don’t have to suffer life without garlic, pair these movies with Merlot (and pasta while you’re at it). Revel in your ability to drink something deliciously fruit-forward that pairs well with garlicky foods as you watch imaginary monsters struggle to hunt their dinner.

Slasher

The Slasher film is arguably the creepiest of horror sub-genres because the “monster” is usually a person who attended a 1970s summer camp. With plot lines about stalking and murder, the main moral of this sub-genre is to never run upstairs. Watch these movies with a bottle of Chardonnay because if you end up having to run with your wine glass, you won’t have to worry about red wine spilling.

Gore

Whether it’s campy over-the-top graphics, or disturbingly real, the Gore genre will entail blood, guts, and guaranteed grimaces. For this genre, we recommend leaning right into it and drink a dark, visceral red wine like Zinfandel. If you have to look away from the screen, at least you can feel like you’re still participating by sipping on a wine that could be used as a special effect prop.

Comedic

Take any of the above sub-genres and add superb comedic timing! This is the perfect movie choice for a influx of mixed emotions that will surely end with a laugh. Open a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and sip on it slowly as it too will go through emotions as you let it oxygenate throughout the 90ish minutes of horror comedy.

Halloween Theme

The likelihood that you don’t enjoy horror but will listen to true crime podcasts is fairly high. But no judgment from us. Enjoy a Halloween-themed movie with a G-rated plot and snuggle up with Pinot Noir because this subgenre is not about getting spooked but, instead, about gettin' cozy.

Now go enjoy your horror movie binge while you sip. But if you’re also throwing a Halloween party and need to stock up on bottles for guests, take a look at our selection of our sustainably-focused wines priced under $25 Because cheap thrills doesn’t mean you have to serve cheap drinks.