West Virginia | VinoVerve

The Ohio River Valley AVA Meanders

By admin | February 11, 2013 - 2:04 pm |February 11, 2013 American, AVA, Elkton, Gretchen Neuman, Indiana, Indiana Uplands, Kentucky, Ohio, Ohio River Valley, VinoVerve, West Virginia

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Map of the Ohio River Valley AVA

Just like the great river for which it is named, the Ohio River Valley AVA has changed its course. I alluded to this over the weekend when I mentioned the new Indiana Uplands AVA. But because I wanted to focus on Indiana Uplands and the also new Elkton AVAs, I didn’t get to the revisions the Ohio River Valley.

Today this has changed. As a reminder, this is the original version of the map:

Map of the revised Ohio River Valley AVA

And the new? Well, I assumed that the variation between the two maps would represent the original map minus the territory that would have crossed over into the new Indiana Uplands AVA. So, I am including both maps here so you can judge for yourself. I feel fairly satisfied that I guessed correctly.

Map of the Indiana Uplands AVA

Now, what the variations are and what they mean? That will be discussed on another day.

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Mountain Mama

By GMN | August 22, 2011 - 12:01 am |August 30, 2011 WBC'11, West Virginia, wine

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West Virginia always makes me think of a John Denver song. Not one in particular, just all of them in general. And I got to go there on my way home from the annual Wine Bloggers’ Conference.

Yes, I am looking at the states that I am visiting out of order. Why? because some of them I will visit both coming and going… I will get to them… eventually. It has been a bad month for me.

Anywho…

West Virginia.

The original plan didn’t include me driving through many of the parts of West Virginia that I wanted to visit. Doesn’t that figure. The Greenbrier for instance. A great resort and home of a bunker for the government in case of Armageddon (the real one… not the California car version). Given my new used fancy ve-hickle that was acquired two days before I hit the road, I was able to re-configure my trip. White Sulpher Springs was now on the list. Unfortunately, there was a golf tournament at the Greenbrier, so I couldn’t saunter into the lobby of the resort. Still, the area was quite beautiful.

On the other hand, the town of Matewan the subject of the movie by John Sayles was still not on my route. It seems awfully small so maybe it was for the best. I didn’t make it to anywhere in Bloody Mingo. I blame the Baldwin-Felts agents.

Even, even worse? I didn’t get to taste any West Virginia wine.

Why?

Very simply bad timing. I didn’t enter the state until nearly 6:30 pm and most of the wineries close before 6:00pm. sigh. These wineries were along my route and I hope to lay my hands on some of those wines very soon.

Watts Roost Vineyard — located closest to my entrance into the state had already closed for the evening. Given the number of tourists in town for the golf tournement, I am sure they were glad to close for the evening. Still, they are producing wines from Chambourcin, Leon Millot and Vidal Blanc as well as elderberry, blueberry and blackberry wines that I would like to try.

Wolf Creek Winery — Also located in the Greenbrier Valley and is planted with twelve acres of Marechal Foch, Chambourcin, Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc and have medals from the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition (bronze), an International Eastern Wine Competition bronze and the Charleston Wine And All That Jazz Medal (Note: be careful there is more than one Wolf Creek Winery in the midwest).

Daniel Vineyards — Found further west, near Beckley, Dr. Daniel has planted 114 varietals on his property. The wines seem to have received multiple medals from multiple competitions. The downside? They don’t ship. Boo.

Fisher Ridge — This winery was never going to be a good road trip stop for me as they are by appt. only. Next time I am going through West Virginia I will try to plan better. Also, they have no website. bummer.

Toscano in Appalachia — This winery is also by appt. and while they have a website, it is just a single page with no additional information about the kinds of wines that they are producing (though from the name I am guessing something Italianish).

Winetree Vineyards — This winery sounded fantastic growing a mix of vinifera and hybrid grapes (or at least producing wines from them as I am a bit skeptical on the idea of a West Virginia Cabernet Sauvignon).

I promise that the next time I am in the state, I will get there earlier in the day.

Gretchen Neuman, VinoVerve Editor August 22, 2011

Hitting the Road!

By admin | June 16, 2011 - 12:01 am |June 15, 2011 Gretchen Neuman, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Yes, I have been absent for a while.. but the Win(e)ding Road is always on my mind. Particularly since next month is the Wine Bloggers Conference. This year I will NOT be heading west, but rather east and south. Heading to Virginia.

Because I will be travelling through more populated portions of the world, I am pleased that I won’t have to take the same route too and fro. That makes travel more boring, at least that is what we, Neuman’s think. According to the routing that I have established so far, I will be driving through eight states (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky) and the District of Columbia.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be looking at each individual state to see what kind of wine and nerdy adventures that I can find.

In the meantime, here is the route as I have devised it thus far.

I wonder what route Marguerite is planning to take?

Category Archives: West Virginia

The Ohio River Valley AVA Meanders

Mountain Mama

Hitting the Road!

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