MonValley Vineyards
From left, Steve Perrotti, owner of MonValley Vineyards, raises a glass to“ Cheers” with his daughter, Roberta Mauller, who owns the Corkyard and Vineyard Cellar. The stand in the Vineyard Cellar, which is located at 3118 B Fairmont Avenue, Fairmont, West Virginia. Mauller sells the wine, Perrotti makes it and together they make a successful duo.
Photo by Savanna Shriver and made some Brandy or something like that. So we kind of tapped in to that hidden culture and it wasn’ t as if we invented it, but commercially, we’ re very innovative in it,” Eric Deal said.
Batton Hollow Winery is located in Lost Creek, just outside of Clarksburg in Harrison County. The winery has a tasting room, outdoor patio, which has an enclosure and seating area where their wine barrels are located. Owners Jim and Toni Kelley will soon celebrate the winery’ s 10-year anniversary and their 50th wedding anniversary. Dee Poling-Palmer is their winetasting steward.
Jim has a degree in chemistry and a wine-making certificate from the University of California-Davis. Toni said he might be the only winemaker in West Virginia with the degree. Jim said he only uses stainless steel barrels because it helps creates a clean taste and if Toni doesn’ t like the taste of the wine, they don’ t sell it.
“ I’ m quality control. I taste the wine and make sure the place is clean. If I’ m going out somewhere to spend money, I want the place to be clean,” Toni said.
The Kelleys spent 25 years traveling, while Jim served in the U. S. Air Force. Their family spent years living in Italy, where“ They drank a lot of good wine and bad wine,” Jim said.
Jim said he usually has around nine or 10 wines available at a time, but they make around 13 per year. Creating more than that, he said compromises the integrity of the wines. They introduce four seasonal wines throughout the year— a spiced wine around September first, a white wine before Christmas, a blush colored wine before Valentine’ s Day and“ Summer Breeze,” which is available before Mother’ s Day. Their wines are available in shops around West Virginia.
Located in the backyard of the winery is the vineyard where the couple grows varieties of French-hybrid grapes, but Jim said he has had difficulty growing grapes in West Virginia’ s rainy climate, so he buys grapes as well.
“ God was a winemaker, so I feel like we’ re a bit closer to him,” Toni said with a laugh.
They often host a food truck and live music on warm evenings and offer a Sunday Funday on the first and third Sunday of the month, where they meet to talk about Jesus and have a bit of wine and breakfast.
“ I can’ t appreciate the people of West
Virginia enough, because they have supported us and come alongside us. They help us bottle,” Toni Kelley said.
By 4:30 p. m. each Friday, the winery is packed with customers who leave as friends, Jim said.
“ I love the friendships, atmosphere and owners are great.... We walk in and catch up with what’ s going on, have some wine and relax. All of your troubles melt away,” customer Mary McCloud said.
MonValley Vineyards and The Corkyard is located at 3118 B Fairmont Ave., Fairmont. Their Facebook, which is updated most frequently can be found here and their website can be found here. Their phone number is 304-369-6228. They are open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a. m. to 6 p. m.
Forks of Cheat Winery is located at 2811 Stewartstown Rd., Morgantown. They have a Facebook page and website. They are open Monday through Friday 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. and Saturday 11 a. m. to 5 p. m. Their phone number is 304-598-2019.
Batton Hollow Winery is located at 406 Woodstock Dr., Lost Creek. They have a website and Facebook. Facebook is updated most frequently. Their phone number is 304-745-5700 and they are open Friday and Saturday 12-6 p. m. and some Sundays.
JUNE’ 25 � DESTINATIONS � 17