You’re locked down in your Manhattan brownstone on the upper East Side in a Frankenstorm.  You summons your decrepit Philippino retainer Mr. Min and send him down to the dusty cellar for that bottle of Frankenstein Pinotage 2011 you ordered on-line from the Playboy Wine Club.

Calling your Pinotage Frankenstein as Winery of Good Hope winemaker Alex Dale did is a nice touch, as for many, the cultivar is a horror show of rusty nails, burnt rubber and nail varnish.  Something that sweet transvestite, Dr. Frankenfurter, might drink at the Rocky Horror Picture Show banquet.  And quite appropriate, as there was an upside down old South African flag stuck into a pineapple in the film.  No wonder everyone’s parents had to trek to a bioscope in Swaziland to see it.

But Mr. Hefner will sure be disappointed when he sips Frankenstein as it doesn’t taste like an old-style Pinotage at all.  It’s sleek and fruity and more Grenache than tannic monster.

Tomorrow is Halloween and SA has no shortage of Halloween tipples.  There’s a Spookfontein Merlot from the Hemel & Aarde (appropriate) or if you’re looking for white, David Nieuwoudt’s Ghost Corner Sauvignon Blanc is popular with Caspar and his cronies, in their personal capacities.  But the classiest ghosts come from Oldenburg in the Banghoek of Stellenbosch which pedants love to mis-correct to Banhoek.

♥♥♥♥♥ Oldenburg Chenin Blanc 2011.  Grippy, long, fabulously creamy flavours, toasty oak, spicy minerality.

♥♥♥♥♥ Oldenburg Chardonnay 2011.  Intense, fine flavours, elegant and minty.

♥♥♥♥♥ Oldenburg Cabernet Franc 2009.  Silky tannins, huge persistence, some veggie notes with spicy toast and chocolate berries not overripe, good wooding.

♥♥♥♥ Oldenburg Cabernet Sauvignon 2009.  Cherries and meat, tobacco and spice.