Local wines at Art & Craft Fair

July 5, 2024

The Mountain State Art & Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes has for decades been a top venue for arts, crafts, and foods of the Appalachian region. One popular thing they’ve included in recent years has been wines from local wineries.

Sampling local wines

This year, two local wineries show off their wares at the festival. Both Stone Road Vineyards from Wirt County and Sweeter Side of The Feud winery from Roane County feature easy-drinking wines loaded with flavor. One nice thing at the craft fair: they’ll gladly give you little tastes of their wines so you can try before you buy.

Brenda Hatfield from Sweeter Side of the Feud

In the photos above Brenda Hatfield pours a sample of her Dandelion Kisses wine and Dave Stone pours his popular Headlight White, a Muscat grape wine with mandarin orange.

Brenda says they only use real fruit and grapes in Sweeter Side of the Feud wine-making because it makes a huge difference in the taste. As the winery’s name implies, they specialize in sweet and semi-sweet wines.

Dave Stone, owner of Stone Road Vineyard, tells us that they tend to primarily make traditional, unflavored grape wines but also do a few fruit wines as well as a couple of unusual types of wine. For instance, their Alternate Route Maple Wine is made from West Virginia maple syrup.

Alternate Route Maple Wine (at left) is made from West Virginia maple syrup.

Sweeter Side of the Feud offerings this year include a dandelion wine and a watermelon wine, among others. In addition to being available at the art & craft fair, you can find their wines conveniently for sale at their Hatfield Family Distillery just off the Haines Branch exit of I-77 (17 miles north of Charleston, WV).

Whiskey-flavored roasted pecans a winner

Another very popular food specialty vendor at the MSA&CF is Sassy Girls Gourmet Treats. They make some of the best roasted pecans you’ll find anywhere. We think that’s because they flavor their pecans with local whiskies. They have both bourbon-roasted and Moonshine-roasted versions. You’ve got to give them a try.