Urban winery opens in Morgantown

For years I’ve wondered why West Virginia wine makers never open urban wineries. We tend to put our wineries way out in the country, off some lightly-traveled back road. This may make for occasional fun Saturday field trips, but it is definitely not the best recipe for selling wine. You’d most often be better off putting your tasting room where the people are. That means in town.

I recently met the folks behind opening a new urban winery right smack in the middle of Morgantown on the highly traveled Mileground Road. Award-winning winemakers Amy Sidwell and Murray Gervais opened Findley Martin Wines there in late November.

The Findley Martin proprietors describe their place as a “micro-winery.”

“A micro-winery does not have its own vineyard, but produces small batches of wine from grapes and fruits it gets from farmers,” explained Murray Gervais. What many folks don’t realize is that often in West Virginia, even at wineries that grow some grapes, much, if not most of their wine is made with purchased juice. Growing good wine grapes in West Virginia is a tough row to hoe. It’s just much easier to purchase your grapes/juice from vineyards in better grape growing regions.

Popular varietal wines

So far, all the wines Findley Martin has made are varietals using popular American grape varieties. Here are the wines currently on sale, with winery-provided descriptions:

• Sauvignon Blanc – Grapes were sourced from Clear Lake, California. You might taste flavors of green apple, passion fruit, peach, or lime in this white wine.
• Cabernet Sauvignon – Grapes were sourced from Red Hills, California. This dry, red wine’s flavors include plum, black cherry, and warm spice.
• Muscat Canelli – Grapes were sourced from Yakima, Washington. This slightly sweet, white wine may remind you of peaches, rose petals, or sweet citrus.

Prices range from $15 to $19.

The wines are offered in their distinctive blue glass 750 ml bottles. Tastings are free. The winery can serve up to three, 2-ounce servings to guests over the age of 21 with proper ID.

The next wine to be released will be a Pinot Noir, expected soon after the first of the year.

Amateur winemakers turn pro

As we see so often in small brewery start-ups with home brewers turning pro, Sidwell and Gervais were self-trained home winemakers who found success in wine competitions. As amateur winemakers, they submitted six varietals and their label to the Pittsburgh Wine Experience conference. The judges awarded their Viognier and Cherry wines silver awards, and their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay bronze awards. Findley Martin’s label was awarded silver in the 2019 International Wine Label Design Contest. Their success led them to start a commercial winery.

You don’t need farm to start a winery

For this type of winery, securing high quality grapes or juice is paramount. You have to know how to work with the top quality suppliers. It’s something Findley Martin puts a lot of emphasis on. “Over the past two years, we have worked with a number of farmers, winemakers, and brewers who have helped us immeasurably,” Sidwell said. 

Their tasting room will also sell a variety of other products “Our plan going forward is to keep making high-quality, small batch wine, while supporting the people who have helped us. We’re excited to promote local artisans by highlighting a Maker-of-the-Month each month,” said Murray. 

Their December featured Maker-of-the-Month is home interior decoration maker Stephanie Buzzo, who operates Eye for Design Co.  

Let’s give these guys a visit and check out their products. The shop’s entrance is on the outside, ground floor of the KLM Properties building.

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Findley Martin Wines
1533 Mileground Road, Suite B,
Morgantown, WV

Website: www.findleymartin.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FindleyMartinWines/