The perfect wines for harvest and Halloween occasions
Plot your pairings for October’s Autumnal evenings and the weird and wonderful celebrations at the month’s end
Geoffrey Dean
07 October 2025 4:15pm BST
With harvest supper and Halloween upon us, a few suggestions for some suitable wines are in order, with Laithwaites’ extensive range offering plenty of options. We have selected a white, a quintet of reds, a top sweet wine from Bordeaux and a sweet fortified aperitif in the form of apple juice blended with Somerset cider brandy. First, our harvest supper wines:
Queen Bee Viognier 2025, WO Western Cape, 12% abv, £14.99
The celebrated Rhône white grape, Viognier, finds beautiful expression in the vineyards of the Journey’s End winery near the town of Somerset West, an hour’s drive east of Cape Town. Named after the Cape honey bee, this beguiling wine is picked early to preserve acidity and keep the alcohol down to 12 per cent (Viognier being naturally higher in alcohol than most white varietals).
Light straw in colour, it has a waxy nose with aromas of honeysuckle blossom. Round and rich on the palate, it has notes of passionfruit, peach and pear, and slips down a treat. A dash of Chenin Blanc, a grape naturally high in acidity, adds freshness and balance. Such a versatile wine as this can be drunk either as an aperitif or with a wide range of harvest food.
Cabalié 2024, Vin de France, 13% abv, £12.99
Roussillon in south-west France, near the Spanish border, has high-quality red wines that are great value for money. This gem of a Catalan blend is one such. Comprising 70 per cent Grenache, 20 per cent Syrah and 10 per cent Mourvèdre, it was made from low-yielding vines over 50 years in age by highly respected vigneron Hervé Sabardeil. Ruby-coloured but verging on dark purple, it is rich with a heady floral nose of violets and herbal scents.
Spicy blackberry fruit mingled with raspberry and strawberry notes provides a delightful intensity of flavour and concentration. Soft, round tannins and 13 per cent alcohol make this so easy to drink it’s hard to resist a second glass of this ever-popular wine. It goes well with hearty dishes.
Le Prince de Courthézon 2023, AOC Côtes-du-Rhône, 14% abv, £15.99
This Grenache-led blend comes from the only co-operative in Châteauneuf-du-Pape – the Cellier des Princes – which is situated in the town of Courthézon, and owned and run by local growers. It cannot be labelled as a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but nevertheless it is produced from vines grown on the same soil.
With 10 per cent Mourvèdre and 10 per cent Syrah added, this is a lovely herb-scented wine that was made by Thierry Ferlay. Rich yet elegant with ripe red and black fruit, it is brimming with peppery spice and liquorice notes. Velvety tannins and oodles of concentration make this a choice mid-market red. It goes well with stews and cottage pie as well as cheeses.
LC 2019 Sauternes AOC, 13.5%, £15 (37cl)
A delicious sweet wine from Sauternes to accompany puddings, blue cheeses or foie gras. This comes from botrytised Semillon grapes, with a small percentage of Sauvignon Blanc, in Bordeaux’s best-known region for dessert wines. With 125g/l of residual sugar, it is mouthcoatingly sweet but with sufficient acidity to provide balance and freshness.
The wine was made by Jean-Marc Sauboua, who jumped at the opportunity to buy what was excess fruit from a leading Sauternes estate, whose identity must remain a secret. The quality of the grapes, however, is such that this wine could easily be mistaken for a top ‘sticky’ with its rich, complex notes of honey, marzipan, dried nuts and apricot. It has great length and concentration.
‘Halloween’ wines
Rex Mundi Shiraz Grenache 2025, Pays d’Oc IGP, 13% abv, £12.99
This seductive Roussillon is another creation of Hervé Sabardeil, one of Laithwaites’ favourite winemakers. It is named after Rex Mundi, Latin for King of the World, and a term given to a Satanic god by the medieval Cathars, who lived near the current vineyards in the region. For them, this god was flawed, but there is nothing flawed about this rich, spicy, luscious blend of red plum and black cherry fruit with its velvety tannins.
Waxed Bat 2024, Mendoza, 14% abv, £9.99
An enticing blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec from Argentina’s best-known wine region, its wacky name was the idea of winemaker Opi Sadler, who used to explore his grandfather’s wine cellar with a candle as there was no lighting, but had to contend with resident bats that often flew into the candle and its wax. Violet, damson and liquorice notes are central to this spicy red, which has super-soft tannins and a medium to full body. Very moreish.
Lobo e Falcão 2024, Vinho Regional Tejo, 12.5% abv, £13.99
An excellent value-for-money blend from the Tejo region, north-east of Lisbon, it includes the well-known Portuguese varietals Castelão and Touriga Nacional as well as Syrah. The wine comes from a winery that was once a former hunting estate of the Portuguese royal family – Quinta do Casal Branco – now owned by the aristocratic Jose Lobo de Vasconcelos.
Lobo e Falcão translates as ‘wolf and falcon’. Winemaker Joana Lopes has produced a gorgeously silky red with pronounced intensity of flavour from spicy black and red fruit. Wine Enthusiast, the American publication, liked a previous vintage so much that it gave the wine a ‘best buy’ award.
Somerset Cider Brandy Kingston Black Apple Aperitif, 18% abv, £15.99
A delicious dessert tipple fortified with cider brandy to 18 per cent abv, this should be served chilled, ideally on the rocks. Some like to add tonic water. It is made from the fermented apple juice of the celebrated Kingston Black cultivar, hailed as the ‘king of cider apples.’ Its skin is such a dark red-purple hue that it is called Kingston Black.
Dating back to 1820, it is thought to be named after the village of Kingston St Mary near Taunton. With floral quince, citrus and gooseberry notes, it is an excellent palate cleanser. Drink as an aperitif and with chicken or pork belly roasts, lemony puddings and mature cheeses.