As I continue to make my way through the wineries and distilleries around the state, I made a return trip to West Virginia's wine country.



The Sweeter Side of the Feud is located in Spencer and is a descendent of the famous Hatfield family and makes recipes from the family's moonshine.

The Original Hatfield Family Moonshine products are created using the ONLY original Hatfield family recipes. 

Our moonshine is made with the exact same recipes that was passed down from Devil Anse Hatfield’s ancestors that was kept secret in the family Bible. 

In 2014 Mark Hatfield, the Great Great Grandson of Devil Anse, decided to take the once kept family secret and bring the product to the public and let everyone taste the drink that many Hatfields had drank over years dating back to the infamous feud.

In fact, they sell a number of flavored moonshines, including the popular honey. And, they have about 18 wines!



Each is decorated with a story about the family's history and infamous feud.

Kenco Farms Wines sells a very sweet wine, which is actually mead. I've tried this at various festivals over the years, but realized they don't do tastings/tours so I needed to find a bottle to add to my collection.

They have a blackberry melomel, blueberry melomel, raspberry melomel, cyster, and blue mead available for sale at The Spirit Shoppe in Nutter Fort.



The Spirit Shoppe also has a variety of West Virginia wines that you don't see everywhere, like Stoneroad Vineyard wines.



Above is from a wine & jazz festival.

One of the best things about Parkersburg's Point Park Marketplace is that there is a winery shop right inside.

Toscano in Appalachia - DeFeo Family Vineyard & Winery has tastings available for their various wines: Liebfraumilch, Riesling, Gerwurztraminer, Ciao Bella, Vecchio Volpe, Vigna Antico, Cinque - plus their delicious sangria.

Because I can go for either whites or reds - as long as it's not too sweet or too dry - I sampled a little of everything. I actually loved just about every one I tried! There were a few additional that weren't reflected on that sign.

Oh, and that sangria - absolutely delicious! A must-try if you're shopping in the area.


The "Bianco Tedesco" ended up going home with me. It's a German white wine that I felt was perfectly balanced. What's your favorite?

Potomac Highland Winery is a small winery located just outside of Keyser. I first heard about Potomac Highland Winery at the West Virginia Wine & Jazz Festival in Morgantown. And, I became a big fan of their wines, which aren't too dry and aren't too sweet - just right!

The relatively warm climate at the vineyard site near Keyser enables us to grow vinifera and French-American hybrids, allowing us to make wines very unique to West Virginia.  We offer tours, tastings and sales by appointment or take a chance.  We are open most days and non-festival weekends. Operating Schedule:  Most days and non-festival weekends Tours and Tastings Available by appointment

I reached out to the folks and told them a general timeframe when I expected to be coming through town. They were accommodating and told me to come on through. Their tasting area is located in their basement, and the magic happens in a garage space detached from the home.

Potomac Highland Winery was founded in 1992 by Dr. Charles Whitehill and is located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The region's terrain provides an idyllic setting as well as an advantageous micro-climate for grape growing. Known for producing fine table wines, Dr. Whitehill along with his wife Becky and son Rhoades still oversee every aspect of production— from the harvesting of the grapes to the final bottling of the wine. The result of their labors has been award winning wines of remarkable consistency that have won the praise of both the public and fellow winemakers.

Located in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, Potomac Highland Winery's vineyard consists of gently sloping hills. The abundance of shale in the soil gives this region a similar "terrior" to that of Germany although the climate is drier. A Late summer/early fall drought usually provides an advantageous stressing of the vines resulting in a concentration of the grape sugars.

While at Taylor's Farm Market on a little mini daytrip, I went to the wine cellar area and something caught my eye in the local section - Cox Juice.

I had the "Cox Family Winery" on my to-visit list for some time, but I didn't realize they were in stores - or nearby. So, I picked up the bottle, gave them a call and asked if I could come see the winery since it was close. They called back and said they don't give tours quite yet, but they were happy I was purchasing a bottle to try it out.

Our StoryDuring the Prohibition, Jack and Mutt Cox (Uncles) produced and sold illegal whiskey to many who disagreed with the 18th Amendment. After the Prohibition, Jack and Mutt influenced their little brother Bill Cox (Mike and Rodney's father) to continue making home brew. Over the years, Bill made hard cider and wine for his family.   

Rodney enjoyed helping and watching his father make homemade wine, but felt the taste was not satisfying. In 1979, Rodney began making his own, which he perfected over the years. Although, Mike showed no interest in making wine, he encouraged his son Michael to take an interest. Michael, enjoyed "hanging out" with his Uncle Rodney. In 1980, Michael helped Rodney make his first batch of plum wine.   

Over the last thirty years, Rodney has been making homemade wine through trial and error. Michael attended a small class offered at the Robert Mondovi Winery in Napa Valley, California. He immediately thought of his Uncle Rodney.   

Michael and Rodney made seventeen bottles in 2008 and sixty-nine bottles in 2009. They have been asked by many people to purchase their wine. Because they were not a winery or licensed for business; they could not sell it. Due to its growth in popularity by people who have heard of their unique blend and taste, Mike added a division to an already existing family business.   

Now, the Coxs' can finally offer their wine to the people who have been praising "COX JUICE".

I went with "The Original" - named after the only wine they have been making since the 1970s. Original is an amber colored wine that is cold pressed from Concord grapes. This wine is deliciously sweet with an obvious fruitful flavor. Cox Juice Original 2013 contains 15% alc/vol. Very good!

They have a number of other wines, including Niagara, Wine Berry, Chambourcin, Canadice, Tates, Venus, Zinfandel, Peach, Blackberry, Muscat, Steuben, and Cabernet Franc, that can be purchased in a few retail locations in the Eastern Panhandle:

Since 1995, West Virginia Fruit and Berry, an All Natural Food and Beverage Company located in Bridgeport, WV, has offered Preserves, Jams, Jellies and Fruit Butters made with a taste reminiscent of the way our Grandma would have made. While growing up in the hills of West Virginia, we picked berries and fruits our parents and grandparents had growing in their back yards, or wild in the hills around us. After that labor of love, Mom or Grandma would can and preserve or bake up our harvest in tasty treats. 

Our company brings back the memories of a time gone by. Enjoy a taste of Almost Heaven Black Raspberry Seedless Preserves, our Mountain Blackberry, or a taste of our delightful Apple Butter to name a few, on hot bread, a hot biscuit, toast or bagel. They’re delicious in recipes, too. 

In 2014, we made the decision to celebrate the Pride and Tradition of WV with a new line of our delicious Fruit Wines made from the same Fruits and Berries indigenous to growth in the beautiful state that Bob and Becky Titchenal call home.

You've probably seen West Virginia Fruit and Berry preserves products. They're in grocery stores; they're in shops that sell West Virginia products; and they're even in the wine aisle.

You can get preserves: "Almost Heaven" black raspberry preserves, "Mountain" blackberry preserves, "Wild & Wonderful" red raspberry preserves, blueberry preserves, cherry preserves, plum preserves, elderberry preserves, strawberry jam, and strawberry rhubarb. Also pepper jams: cherry jalapeno pepper, jalapeno pepper jam, and strawberry jalapeno jam. Fruit butters include apple butter, cherry butter, pumpkin butter, and peach butter.

You can even get Mountain Blackberry Wine, Uncle Jake's Elderberry Wine, and Wild & Wonderful Raspberry Wine.

West Virginia Fruit and Berry is not a winery, however. A little more on how they got started:

Bob and Becky Titchenal, both native West Virginians, formed West Virginia Fruit and Berry in early 1995. We started growing berries in the Sun Valley area of Clarksburg, WV and then moved, in 1998, to a new farm location in Bridgeport, WV. It was our intent in the beginning to grow berries for West Virginia wineries, and then expand our ideas to introduce our own line of “Value Added” products. 

The more we researched the potential of quality West Virginia food products for the specialty food market, the more we were excited by the potential of expanding WV agricultural production for the average family farmer. 

We started marketing our WV Fruit and Berry products and continued to preach alternative sustainable agriculture for small family farms. This offers small family farms the potential of growing specialty crops such as fruits, berries, herbs, flowers and whatever the niche markets would demand, thus giving the farmers a chance for additional income from either selling what they grow or creating their own value added products. There is a need for small fruit growers in our state. We can help create a market for the fruits they grow. There is no doubt that we are finding a market for WV grown products, not only in this state, but in neighboring states as well. 

Through mail order, our products have even found their way to the homes of people in Europe, the Far East and Asia. People of West Virginia are proud to share a piece of West Virginia through gifts to their friends all over the world. West Virginians, who are living all over the world, also crave a taste of the heritage of West Virginia.

In September of 2015, Bob and Becky announced that the company would celebrate their 20th Anniversary of marketing value added products for the state of West Virginia by adding a new line of fruit wines. Named and flavored from the same fruits and berries in our mouth-watering preserves, jams, jellies and fruit butters, we introduced four West Virginia Fruit and Berry fruit wines, which include Mountain Blackberry, Wild & Wonderful Raspberry/Luscious Cherry Blossom and Uncle Jake’s Elderberry Wine.

So, they essentially create the taste profiles of what the preserves should taste like and what the wines should taste like - influenced by West Virginia flavors. And, the products are made outside the state with another company. Farmhouse wineries may not be so thrilled with the concept, but this is modern-day marketing, which I have an appreciation for. I think they're using flavors inspired by their childhood, and they're getting the West Virginia name out there. That's pretty great.

This couple was kind enough to open up and show me around and teach me a little bit about what they're doing. It's not a common concept here in West Virginia, but it is smart. I think the products are absolutely delicious, and I look forward to seeing what else they churn out.

So, I wanted to learn a bit more about our state's first hard cidery, so I traveled to Lewisburg to meet with the owners of Hawk Knob Cidery and Meadery.

And, I will have a column coming out in Sunday's paper about our history with hard cider and what these folks are up to, so be on the lookout for that.

These folks have opened up the state's first hard cidery - something we're lagging a bit behind on in this state considering hard cider is the fastest growing segment of the alcohol industry. But Josh & Will are blazing that trail, and doing so in the most traditional, local way possible by sourcing local apples and working with local producers.


So, I was fortunate in getting to talk with these guys, learn about their craft and get to sip it with them. Nothing better than that.

Appalachian Classic Hard Cider - The only one not aged in a bourbon barrel. This is green fruit-oriented, pretty crisp and light. Very refreshing. Lots of tart green apple flavors on this one. 

Appalachian Classic Bourbon Barrel Aged Hard Cider - This is the same cider as the previous one; just goes through the most extensive barrel aging procedure. It gets some bold bourbon characteristics and loses a lot of the tart green apple flavor and picks up a lot of the butter notes from the barrel. It's almost like a chardonnay-like butteriness with some dark cherry on the finish.

Wild Fermented Traditional Hard Cider - This is made the traditional way of making cider back in the 1700s. It uses wild fermentation, as well as red wine and champagne yeast. But, they do a barrel fermentation where the wild yeast on the skin of the apple does the work. It's a really round, smooth flavored cider with some butter flavors and bold flavors from the wild yeast. A little dark cherry on the finish with some vanilla and hints o bourbon.

Elderberry Infused Hard Cider - This blends two Appalachian traditions - cider and elderberries. Elderberries are steeped in the cider, which gives it a lot of color, aromatics and some red fruit flavor. The berry flavor is pretty subtle, but is pretty complex.

Cherry Hard Cider - This is the newest addition and the first under the Headwater Series, where they plan to release small-batch ciders. It has a light bourbon and oak flavor, and that tart cherry is present and pretty fruity, tart finish. It's still dry and packs a punch at 12% alcohol.

The ciders are dry enough to pair well with fatty meals to cut through all of that. If you're used to Woodchuck or Angry Orchard, this is totally different. It's dry and not full of additional sweeteners or sulfites. It's natural and delicious.

They will also be coming out with their mead any time now. They have one currently aging for two years -- and hope to have ones that will age even longer in the future -- that is a cyser. Pretty excited to get a taste of that when it's ready!

Have you been? Which cider is your favorite?

While over in the Eastern Panhandle, I remembered that a winery was nearby. A few, actually. But the one that came to mind was West-Whitehill Winery.

This small building isn't much from the outside. It was never intended to be a tasting room. Really, it was just a place to make the wine. But as business grew, it necessitated a tasting room, we were told by the young man giving us a free wine tasting.

We tried all the wines. Because when in Rome, right? I remember liking the West Virginia Red and noting that it was "dry-ish" with a bit of sweetness. I also enjoyed the Aurore Blush, which is a semi-sweet blush. It was crisp and smooth. The Raspberry Royal is their best seller and very sweet. The Classic Currant is also very sweet but in a delicious way.


Have you been? What are some of your favs?