The Story of...

...of a headless ghost that rides a dark horse and haunts those who so unfortunately cross his path. The story unfolds on a full mooned night in late October, set atop the Nine Mile hill of the Ash Hollow vineyard.

Long before there was an Ash Hollow vineyard, a grove of ash trees stood solemnly in a little hollow nine miles from the Wallula Gap in the Walla Walla territory. Even today, some believe that the spot is haunted. Old timers in the valley remember their grandparents speaking in hushed tones of the grisly finds of a young headless man, lying at the foot of one of the stately trees in Ash Hollow. It was never clear how the tragedy occurred: was he murdered by a renegade band of marauding Indians or outlaws...or was he victim of pioneer justice? No one knows the fate of the young man, but the episode was overshadowed by the attack on the Whitman missionaries a few months later and soon largely forgotten. However, a few locals, traveling through the hollow on certain dark evenings in late October, would report tales of a ghostly figure glimpsed fleetingly through the trees and the sound of hoof beats pounding on the ground as they quickened their pace through the darkened grove of trees. Many swore that the figure they saw seated atop a large black horse had no head. Some, it has been said, have gone into that grove and never returned to tell the tale...

Now the grove of ash trees is gone, replaced by a mature vineyard. As the season nears harvest and that late October time draws near, the smell of ripening fruit fills the air. Those brave souls who have ventured into the vineyards swear that the faint sound of hoof beats can be heard, whistling in the wind and echoing through the hollow. To protect themselves from evil, they carry with them an extremely rare and exotic potion, made from the grapes that have grown in the very ground where the murdered man was found; ready to consume it should they encounter the headless man on the black horse.

To keep your head about you and avoid sleepless nights, make sure that you have plenty of the "Headless Red" potion on hand as the fateful October night approaches.

This secret potion can only be obtained by exclusive membership in the society known as the "Ash Hollow Wine Club" or by daring to visit the Ash Hollow Winery tasting room. Or you may have a chance of luck and stumble upon a rare bottle on your travels...