2008 Chateau Diana, LLC Zombie Zin California Zinfandel

For me, George Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead was the seminal flick that took horror movies, in general, and zombie movies, in particular, to a new level. Filmed in Evans City and rural Butler County, this heavily criticized but critically acclaimed film was eventually selected by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry.

So, given the Pittsburgh connection to those lovable, flesh-eating zombies, it was impossible to resist making “Zombie Zin” the subject of this week’s article. Touted as a wine that is “blood-red in color and horridly rich in concentrated fruit flavors with a finish that never dies!” we thought we would put it, and similarly positioned novelty wines, to the test. Typically, these wines are made from blending different types of leftover juice with mixed results. In this particular instance, the color was more that of mud than blood, the fruit more horrid than rich, and the finish thankfully died before my taste buds did! I don’t think the winemaker meant us to take this wine seriously (which may be one reason their name does not appear anywhere on the label) and you shouldn’t. It’s got a great label and we’ll leave it at that.