Conventional wisdom says that wine should not be warmer than room temperature. But then, conventional wisdom hasn't meet Witch's Brew by Leelanau Cellars from Northern Michigan. In addition to the red wine, spices have been added that are reminiscent of traditional mulling spices including cloves and cinnamon. According to the Lealanau Cellars website, nutmeg and other spices have been added.
The best way to serve this wine is warm. With the spices, it has a smell very reminiscent of warm apple cider. The taste, however is dominated by the spices and the grapes play second fiddle to the cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. The weight of the wine was tremendously heavy, heavier than any other wine I've tasted. This is largely due to the spices in the wine, but overall, the wine has a chewy feel.
As for taste, this wine runs on the sweet side, with a medium level of alcohol and low acidity. The tannins are present, but are a bit overwhelmed by the spices.
When tasting this wine, I tried heating it up to a tad past luke warm and also to a nice simmer, and I thought it tasted better when it was steaming some. But never heat it to boiling, as the wine's structure would start to breakdown and concentrate into a syrup.
Overall, I'd rate this wine as 80 out of 100. Grapes are not the star in this wine. This wine is meant for fun to drink at a party, on a cold fall day, or on Halloween night.
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