In honor of Halloween, this is a special Freaky Friday edition of Cluster Crush exploring a more sinister side of the wine industry.
Here’s a hint: If your winery looks like this, it’s probably haunted. Photo source: Boneyard Hunt.
That’s right, it’s not all residual sugar and felicitous fermentation going on. Oh no, there’s a ghoulish dark side to many wineries that will make your palate tingle and your blood curdle – they’re haunted! After all, wine is a spirit, so no wonder it attracts spirits of a decidedly different sort, and neither would be out of place at Vincent Price’s dinner table.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so make a wine-tasting weekend out of it and visit one of these haunted wineries across the country. Who knows, you might end up trying some wine you love, and making contact with the other side.
California’s Napa Valley is actually home to a fair number of “ghost wineries,” some of which have been resurrected, and some which have not. These buildings are kind of like ghost towns, in that they were once bustling centers of activity but fell into disuse – usually around the time of Prohibition. In fact, there were over 700 wineries in Napa when Prohibition went into effect, and only a few dozen by the time it ended.
While some, like Chateau Montelena, La Jota and Freemark Abbey are now making wine again, some, like Summit Ranch, are just tumbledown ruins. Here’s one with a violent past but a bright future.
Franco-Swiss Winery
This winery near St. Helena was originally built in the 1870s by three men working at Charles Krug. By the mid-1880s, it was a booming business, but was shut down during Prohibition. It is currently under renovation by Richard and Leslie Mansfield of Mansfield Winery (they will restore the Franco-Swiss name once they finish their project). They’ve hit a few hiccups along the way, though, including encounters with a ghost belonging to a man they believe was named Jules Millet. One of the original owners’ nephews, Millet was shot and killed in 1882 by a former cellar worker who had been caught stealing and was fired. Guess that’s called going wino.
Sonoma County is home to any number of haunted houses…many of which just happen to be wineries. Check out the full list in this article, but these were a few that gave me goose bumps.
Bartholomew Park look bucolic today, but it used to be a women’s prison and a morgue! Photo credit: Anya Larre.
Bartholomew Park Winery
What happens when you take a building that was at various times a hospital, morgue and even a women’s prison? Of course you’re going to end up with ghosts! That’s the case with this Sonoma winery, where there are said to be at least three resident ghosts, as well as spectral singers who are said to take up song late at night from the part of the cellar where prisoners were once held. Maybe they sing spirituals?
Dry Creek Vineyard
Up in the fields of Healdsburg, there is said to be the ghost of a Native American man holding vigil over land that was once a Pomo reservation. He seems to be ambivalent, but the winery has had to stop welcoming guests to a small house in its Bullock House Vineyard due to paranormal activity such as slamming doors and loud footsteps seemingly belonging to no one disturbing guests during the night.
You might know Korbel for its wines, but it’s also home to ghosts! Photo source: Korbel.
Korbel
I get it, you might not admit to drinking Korbel (I don’t believe you), but that doesn’t mean you can’t pay a visit to its nouveau gothic winery up in Guerneville, where grisly events of the past remain fresh thanks to vaporous visitors. One is said to be the wraith of a cook who killed herself in the 1880s. Some guests, employees and caretakers of the place have also witnessed strange lights moving through the redwoods at night, and even lamps flickering in rooms where there is no electricity.
Northern Virginia is one of the U.S.’s oldest winemaking regions, and its wineries are home to some of its oldest ghosts.
Zephaniah Farm Vineyard
Virginia might be for lovers, but if you’re a young couple visiting this 1830s winery, beware. Apparently the ghost of a woman named Mattie Nixon, who owned the property in the early 20th century and was married unhappily to a violent British man, comes out of the woodwork to spook young couples she thinks should break up. Talk about meddling in human affairs!
Virginia’s historic Valerie Hill Winery. Did you hear something in the attic!? Photo credit: Valerie Hill.
Valerie Hill Vineyard and Winery
This Stephens City winery reminds me of something out of Jane Eyre. Its 200-year-old manor house is home to a ghost named Benedict Rust, who was the son of the man who originally built the house. Unfortunately, Benny was declared insane and imprisoned in the attic. As if that’s not enough to set your wineglass shaking (and not in the way that you swirl it to unlock the aromas), the house was also apparently used as a hospital during the Civil War, so there’s no telling what other ghosts are lurking there!
Winery at La Grange
You might be familiar with the Jewish custom at Passover where a full wine glass is left for the prophet Elijah, but this Haymarket winery holds a similar ritual to appease a resident ghost named Benoni E. Harrison. Harrison purchased the house in the 1830s (it was originally built in the 1790s), and has been sticking around ever since. To keep him from doing naughty things like messing with the electricity and the WiFi, the staff leaves a glass of wine for him on the mantel above the fireplace in the tasting room. Feel like toasting with Benoni? Take your drink to the basement “Benoni’s Lounge” the winery has set apart just for him.
Over in upstate New York, the Finger Lakes region is home to some of the east coast’s best wineries…and their phantom friends.
Look out for the ghosts of a man and a woman embracing on the porch at Miles Wine Cellars. Photo source: Miles Wine Cellars.
Miles Wine Cellars
The tasting room here is in a glorious 1802 Greek Revival home overlooking scenic Seneca Lake in the town of Milo at a site that was once a ferry crossing. But your attention might remain indoors to try to catch a glimpse of the specters that clairvoyants and mediums have spotted here, including phantasmic mists that sweep through the house slamming doors, and the figures of a man and woman embracing on the house’s front porch (you can find this same image on the winery’s corks). Pay homage to these amiable apparitions with a bottle of the winery’s signature Ghost white-wine blend made from Chardonnay and Cayuga grapes.
