Halloween. A time of whims and wonder, horror and goth. Halloween legends abound. Almost all of them include haunted houses, castles, undead characters and scary spirits claiming people’s lives on that one night of October 31st.
We are about to embark on a journey through haunted wineries. Yes. Wineries on Halloween.
The world of wine is ripe with horror stories, even though they rarely become cult horror movie material.
Let’s discover some of the most fascinating Halloween stories about wineries, haunted by good and evil spirits.
Romantic Halloween story: The spirits in the heart of the Chianti Region
The first Halloween story xtraWine is going to tell is romantical. Even the most astute of our readers will notice the critique at the heart of the legend.
Two lost souls: the Marquise Leonida Frescobaldi and Baron Bettino Ricasoli. These two souls inhabit their Brolio Castle, that towers over the Ricasoli company lands, guarding their possessions.
The legend around Brolio Castle is one of entrepreneurship and attachment to the land and its produces.
In fact, it is believed that the Marquise Frescobaldi was so attached to her land and her vineyards that she would rarely leave Castello Brolio while in life.
The Marquise was the first woman to become a wine entrepreneur. As a consequence, the Marquise produced wine and managed the building of the Nipozzano estate. As such, she continued to manage the estate and the entire business throughout her entire life.
Legend has it that she made Ricasoli the company it is today.
People maintain to have spotted her on Halloween night wandering on the roof of her castle. She is believed to be looking over that very same estate she contributed to build and turn into a success.
Very much like the Marquise, Baron Bettino Ricasoli was a wine producer. He was nicknamed “the Iron Baron” because he was determined to internationalise Italian wine-making, and bring innovation to the Italian oenology.
Sightings of Baron Bettino Ricasoli abound. He is always seen at night, riding his white horse, rigorously dressed with his black “giacca finanziera” (a type of frockcoat). His presence has been felt in the Castle, where he wanders around the kitchen breaking plates, and around the bedrooms undoing beds.
His steed can be heard at night, riding through the vineyards and the nearby villages, waking up the locals. Perhaps keeping them in check?
Together, the Marquise and the Baron guard this gem in the heart of Tuscany, bringing luck to the estate.
Ricasoli have received multiple awards over the centuries and are now internationally renowned for their uniqueness. All thanks to these spirits? We’ll let you judge!
The Alto Adige’s hidden cellar
For the second spooky Halloween story we move to Trentino Alto Adige, a region we met during our xtraWinexperience, well known for its white wines.
We go to the Salorno Castle or Haderburg, built in 1150.
Haderburg rises on a high limestone rock spur above the southernmost village of the region. The castle is hard to reach and it was built to make it impenetrable and impossible to attack.
Legend has it that inside the castle was a hidden wine cellar with extremely valuable wines.
One day, a peasant from a nearby village managed to finally find the mysterious winery and tried to steal some wine. At that moment, three spirits appeared and demanded the peasant only take enough wine for his own household, without giving in to his own greed.
As a token of their appreciation, the spirits allowed the peasant to find the winery and refill their wine pitcher whenever he, or his family, needed it.
As a consequence, the farmer agreed, and for some time he would go to the hidden cellar, take whatever wine was needed, and leave. However, one day he decided to trick the spirits and steal a little more than ‘enough’. In fact, he wanted to show off with his friends, and brag about the hidden cellar he could access in Hadeburg.
As a response, the three spirits freed all evil spirits in the castle and made the cellar completely invisible and impossible to reach. To this date, many curious and brave adventurers have tried to find it, with no luck.
Our suggestion? Just buy your wine on xtraWine.
If you want to make your friends try our wine, sign them up to our referral programme or get one of our xtraWine gift boxes!
The legend of the Englishman poisoned by wine
We move to the UK where xtrawine has recently opened their new hub xtraWine UK and where there is a wealth of ghost stories!
One legend is particularly interesting because it is not about a winery but about wine. It is about the spirit of a Mark Hewton, an Englishman who dislikes wine and spends his afterlife breaking wine glasses at The George Hotel in Crawley (West Sussex). Mark was an employee of the Hotel. He was a terrible employee. He was known to steal wine from the hotel. And he was met by an ill fated death: killed by a poisoned glass of wine prepared by the owners of the inn.
Today, Mark Hewton’s spirit haunts the hotel, breaking each and every wine glass he finds on his way. Someone should tell him to refocus his interests, get online and buy wine from xtraWine. Nobody’s going to have broken glasses or poisoned wine!
Ready to tell these spooky stories on the 31st? Well done.
Happy Halloween from xtraWine!
Interviste esclusive dal mondo del vino ed approfondimenti da chi fa del vino una ragione di vita, di business e di cultura.
