I am just back from our annual pilgrimage to the New York Wine Experience. Our final tasting on Saturday afternoon was presented by Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, owner of the great premier grand cru, Chateau Mouton Rothschild.

As we progressed from the 2012 all the way back to 1989 I was reminded of the words of Pablo Picasso: “Fine wine and fine art elevates the spirit and takes us to another place as it washes away from the soul the dust of life.” I admit to being overcome by emotion as I experienced all that Mother Earth could offer of herself and all that I have tried to learn and understand over the past 40 years.

Philippe’s grandfather, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, considered it a “monstrous injustice” that his Mouton had not been classified as a first growth in 1855. Some said that the reason was that it had been purchased by an Englishman all those years ago. The baron would put on all his labels: “Premier ne puis, second ne daigne, Mouton suis”, which means “First I cannot be, second I do not deign to be, I am Mouton.” Finally in 1973 the one and only change that has ever taken place in this classification was made and Mouton rightfully joined Latour, Lafite, Haut-Brion and Margaux.

Fortunately for us, our only sense that we can never close down or turn off, olfactory, is the most forgiving of all. Even though a rare vertical collection of 63 bottles of Mouton Rothschild (1945 to 2012) recently sold for $376,900 I have to say that I really enjoyed a bottle of syrah last evening that cost less than $20. What other sense would let us do this?

So it is time to take the appropriate bottle of wine to the Hallowe’en party and I would like to start by suggesting Big House Beastly Old Vines Cardinal Zin 2012 that is priced in the “share with a group” range of $15.55. Made from vines up to 100 years old that exist throughout California, the yields are in the very low range of only one or two tonnes per acre and the owners admit to being “zealous believers in the decadent and forbidden flavours of this sinfully delicious zinfandel”.

You will find quite intense flavours of blackberry mingling with soft, creamy touches of oak, vanilla and dried herbs, but it is not heavy and the fruit is constant from first to last sip. It has a pretty scary label as well and if you manage to sneak a chocolate from the bag of a little person it should pair well with this zinfandel.

I cannot resist telling about our wines from Ghost Pines Winery. To create their 2013 chardonnay, grapes from Monterey, Sonoma and Napa counties were blended and the result is a complex chardonnay with layers of flavour and a firm acidity. It delivers baked apple, pear and lemon cream with a vanilla finish. It would be as at home with buttered popcorn as it would be with a lobster dinner. $19.90.

Louis Martini winery in Napa Valley is one of the oldest as it was founded in 1933 and their cabernet sauvignons are some of our most popular. In 1964 they purchased 178 acres in the eastern hills of Napa Valley and they named it to honour the grey pines, which at dusk appear to hover solitary and ghostlike throughout the coastal valleys. This allowed them to offer wines in a little lower price bracket and their Ghost Pines 2011 cabernet sauvignon benefits from this historic relationship.

The nose reveals black currants and tobacco leaf and this opens up to plums and vanilla followed by cherry and spice. It is soft and velvety and ends with a touch of smoke that once again would lend itself to being paired with a bite of milk chocolate. $24.60,

It would not frighten me in the slightest to share any of these wines with friends or to take them to a party, costume or not.

• This column is a paid-for advertorial for Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or 295-0176. Burrows Lightbourn has stores in Hamilton (Front Street East, 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits is available online at www.wineonline.bm.