The weeks leading to Halloween are often packed for Aiken’s Dacre Stoker.
The great grandnephew of Bram Stoker, who wrote the horror classic “Dracula,” Dacre Stoker is an expert when it comes to the most famous vampire of all time as well as his famous relative, and interest in the bloodsucker surges at Halloween.
This year, Dacre Stoker is marking Halloween with a Romanian tour and the launch of a new venture – Stoker Wines.
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“It’s exciting to orchestrate the reveal at Bran Castle to authenticate and commemorate it there,” said Stoker.
Although Bram Stoker never visited Romania, he patterned Dracula’s castle after images he’d seen of Bran Castle in two different books he’d read. The unveiling of the Stoker Wines will be held at an Oct 28 event at the famous castle.
Dacre Stoker said the event will feature a dramatization with the fictional character of Dracula as well as the historical character of Vlad the Impaler, who Dracula is based on. Vlad ruled Romania in the 1400s, and his castle in Sighișoara is also on the tour, which kicked off Oct. 26 and runs through Nov. 4.
Stoker’s tours highlight the fictional elements of Bram Stoker’s novel as well as uncovering the facts they were based on. He also brings in tidbits about Bram Stoker’s research and other factoids about the writing of the novel.
Stoker Wines was born out of one of the tours he gives, he said. A wine-tasting was part of that event, and one of the tour participants became intrigued with Romanian wines. After doing some research, they found Cramele Rotenberg, an almost century-old vineyard in Ceptura, Romania, and purchased it about eight months ago.
The wine has been rebranded, tying it to the vampire and the literary lineage.
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Although Bela Lugosi in the version of the 1931 film famously declared that “I never drink (pause) wine,” Bram Stoker didn’t write that line, so Dacre Stoker feels safe in bringing the vampire and the wine together.
The winery isn’t the only new piece of the Stokerverse. Dacre Stoker is always looking for new ways to present the famous work.
From Oct. 23-25, Dacre Stoker traveled to Greenville, S.C. to present a dramatic reading of “Dracula” along with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Philip Glass’s “Dracula Suite.”
Stoker said the wine should be available in other parts of Europe next year, and he hopes for a North American launch in 2026.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
