While trying to discern Dracula's nature, the entrapped Jonathan Harker remarked that his host never drank. Translated to the movie screen, this observation emerged in one of the most famous lines spoken by Bela Lugosi in the 1931 movie. Speaking to R. N. Renfield over dinner, Dracula said, "I never drink-wine." That line was spoken just after Renfield (whose character went to Castle Dracula instead of Harker in the movie version) had cut his finger and Dracula had shown his desire to drink of the blood that had appeared. The scene created a use of wine, the blood of the grape, as a metaphor for human blood.
In recent years, wine has returned as a vampire souvenir product. In 1974, the Golden Krone Hotel opened in Bistritz, Transylvania. The Golden Krone was the name of the fictional hotel at which Jonathan Harker stopped on his way to Castle Dracula. At the new hotel, a modern guest can order a Mediasch wine from Medias in the Tarnave Mare district of Transylvania, upon which Harker dined while at the Golden Krone. The modern visitor can also have some "Elixir Dracula", a local red liqueur made from plums.
Around 1990, A.V.F.F.Sp.A. of Sona, Italy , produced a "Vampire Wine". Distributed in the United States by Louis Glunz in Lincolnwood, Illinois, it was a red wine in a black bottle with a black label and arrived in an appropriate coffin container. Bottles of this wine were distributed as door prizes at Coven Party II sponsored in 1991 by Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat Fan Club, and today are among the rarest of vampire collectibles. A new "Vampire Wine" from Romania is currently available from TriVin Imports in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
With the emergence of a new wave of Dracula-oriented tourism in Romania, several companies have responded with new liquid souvenirs. On the occasion of the opening of Bram Stoker's Dracula in Bucharest, in July 1993, for example, Stroh Transylvania produced "Dracula's Spirit", described as the "Original Vampire's Delight." It was a mixture of vodka flavored with fruits and vegetables and red food coloring. The bottle's label carried the quote, "The history has borne the sacred hero. The myth has borne a bloody vampire. The hero and the fiend bear one name: DRACULA. We trust in DRACULA'S VODKA." A similar product has been marketed as "Dracula Seduction" and Dracula's Spriit."
Liquors have joined the shelves of Dracula souvenirs beginning in 1994 with "Dracula Slivovitz," the popular plum brandy of Romania. A special boxed version of the slivovitz was created for the World Dracula Congress in 1995. Also available are "Vlad Trica" and "Draculina Slivowitz." The Transylvanian Society of Dracula has also moved to develop its own wine, Count Dracula Wine, with variant titles for the different white, rose and red varieties. Additioanlly, one of the society leaders in Romania began distribution of a very fine brandy as "Alucard Brandy."
Mackenzie, Andrew. Dracula Country. London: Arthur Barker, 1977. 176 pp.
McNally, Raymond, and Radu Florescu, eds. The Essential Dracula. New York: Mayflower Books, 1979. 320 pp.
The Vampire Companion. No. 1. Wheeling, WV: Innovative Corporation, 1991.
