It's Halloween Eve! Naturally, we are going to talk about more Halloween wine. Today we are drinking 2015 Apothic Inferno. This wine is definitely unique. As with the other Halloween wines, I picked it simply for the label. Dante's Inferno is one of my favorites, and what could be more Halloween than The Pit and Demons? Well, maybe witches, skeletons, pumpkins and all those other halloweeny things, but you get the idea. Apothic Inferno is a small batch, limited release red blend produced in California. I admit that I do not know the varietals contained in the blend. If anyone does know, please leave a note in the comments. What is most interesting to me is that this wine was aged for 60 days in a whiskey barrel. While this is not exactly a new idea, a handful of others like Robert Mondavi (Bourbon barrel) and Jacob's Creek (Whiskey barrel) have done something similar, I was curious to see if I could smell or taste the barrel's influence. And to be clear, whiskey was not used in the making of this wine. It is not a mix of wine and whiskey, simply, wine was allowed to age in barrels previously used to age whiskey. The answer is yes, yes you can absolutely smell and taste the influence of the barrels.
Before delving into the the tasting, I want to say up front that I am not a whiskey expert. I went to a whiskey tasting once and embarrassed myself by telling a seemingly knowledgeable whiskey lover that the expensive bottle of we were sampling tasted like whiskey flavored alcohol. The gentleman politely nodded and walked away from the crazy lady. Having said that, this is an interesting wine. Almost immediately, you can smell the whiskey notes. It could be because I was looking for it, but there is a sweet almost maple smell to it. Once you get past that, buried underneath the whiskey is a familiar red/dark fruit smell (cherry and blackberry). I remember thinking 'Ah, there is the wine!' The taste is similar, with the whiskey upfront loud and proud with maple and almost a caramel flavor. Underneath that you get secondary flavors of cherry and blackberry. The berry does offset the distinct whiskey opening a bit. Just enough to reassure the drinker that you are in fact drinking wine. I guess the dark red color reminds you that it is wine, and maybe the wine bottle, too. Anyway, the finish also reminded me that I am drinking a wine with a 15.9% alcohol by volume (ABV), as it seemed to be almost warm going down. Perhaps a bit like whiskey.
This a tough wine to recommend because it is so different. I am tempted to recommend this wine to whiskey lovers, but hesitate because it is wine after all, not whiskey. If you want to try something different and unique, then this is a great wine to try, but I do not think this a wine for everyone. I enjoy trying wines that have their own character and charm, and Apothic Inferno certainly does. Give this wine a try for something unusual or different. However, like Dante's Inferno, this wine is not for the faint of heart! Cue evil maniacal laughter.
