A tour of some of the finest home wine cellars in our region.
By Jean Hardiman
HQ 112 | WINTER 2021
Wine has many reasons. It’s a reason to gather with people you enjoy. It’s a reason to relax. It’s a reason to travel to beautiful parts of the world. And it’s a reason to learn, not only about the earth and how it bears fruit, but also about a tradition that has flourished for thousands of years.
The more one learns about wine, the more one appreciates and thirsts for it, literally and figuratively. There are a number of families in the Huntington area who have brought this love, this pursuit, into their homes in a unique way. When a few wine racks and a refrigerator stopped being enough, they took it to the next level, representing a worldwide swath of oenophiles whose appreciation for the art and enjoyment of wine is something worth the investment of time and resources.
The art of storing wine goes back even further than written history, having stayed the same in many ways, and having changed magnificently in others. It started with crude, underground spaces to keep the delicious, fermented juices of vineyards safe from sunlight and fluctuating temperatures. Today, a multitude of technologies and forms of craftsmanship go into these spaces to help connoisseurs not only take care of their favorite wines, but also create a place of enjoyment and showpiece in their homes.
“We love wine’s mystique, its history, its cultural components,” said Terry Deppner Hardin, a wine connoisseur who helped found the Marshall Artists Series UnCorked! Wine Festival fundraiser. “We love to see a beginning wine drinker discover what they like and don’t like without fear of intimidation and snobby associations. Wine is a nonstop journey of adventure, pleasure and knowledge. I guarantee you that the more wines you taste, the more your taste will change. And when you taste a really great wine, you will know it.”
Mike McCarthy, who created a Facebook group called Huntington Winespotting for local enthusiasts, enjoys how wine is a richly diverse and multidisciplinary endeavor.
“There is so much to learn about both the science and the art of wine, and so many ways to appreciate the aesthetic with almost every human sense,” he said. “At the same time, you don’t need to know a lot about it to know what you like. So, whether you seek a subject of intense study or merely a relaxing and enjoyable distraction, wine has something to offer.”
Here’s a closer look at how some wine enthusiasts in the Huntington area celebrate wine culture in the comfort of their homes.
Joe and Karen McDonie
Milton, West Virginia
In the early 1990s, Joe and Karen McDonie were invited to a wine pairing dinner. At that point, the couple hadn’t had much exposure to wine.
“The wine pairing dinner began an intriguing venture into wines of various styles over the following years,” Joe said. “In our earlier years, we followed ‘The Rule’ of pairing: white wine with fish and red wine with meat. As time progressed, we transitioned to what wines appealed to our own taste, drinking what we like best, thus totally ignoring ‘The Rule.’”
They still enjoy regular wine pairing dinners, but the McDonies’ primary interest is Cabernet Sauvignons from the Napa Valley region.
“We keep a few bottles of Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Champagne for friends, but our cellar is 99% Cabs,” he said.
They started planning their wine cellar in the basement of their Milton home around 2000.
“It had plenty of space, and climate conditions made it easy to control,” he said. “The internet offered a vast source of design ideas for the overall build. Lenny and Debbie McClary from South Point, Ohio, helped with designing as well as building and installing the wine racks.”
The racks in the McDonies’ wine cellar are made from Honduras mahogany, and the cellar walls and ceiling are western red cedar. The concrete table and countertops were made by Cathy Daniels at Adams Trucking and Concrete, who pressed broken pieces of wine bottles into the tops during the curing process. The wrought iron table base was fabricated by a local ironworker. The diamond table shape, floor pattern and drawer fronts all bear a common design theme. The McDonies control the cellar temperature and humidity with a stand-alone WhisperKool wall unit, maintaining 55 degrees constant room temperature and 65% humidity.
“I find the cellar inviting with a more traditional look,” Joe said. “A couple of times each year, we’ll have several friends over for dinner and have a ‘raid the cellar’ evening. It’s really a great time; and quite often, I find an old bottle bought years ago that I forgot was still in the cellar. My philosophy is that wine is meant to be drunk and shared!”
Dr. Robert and Suzanne Cure
Barboursville, West Virginia
Dr. Robert and Suzanne Cure were living in Augusta, Georgia, when Suzanne came across a beginner wine class at Augusta State University. Robert was doing his residency at the time, and Suzanne was looking for something fun they could do together.
“It was held at a local wine shop owned by a lovely couple, whom we remained friends with for years,” Suzanne said. “We not only learned the basics of wine, but discovered our likes and dislikes, and developed a palate.”
By the time they built their home in Barboursville 10 years ago, “Our appreciation of wine, as well as our collection, had been growing, so it just made sense to incorporate a dedicated space in our home,” Suzanne said. “My husband is also a cigar lover; so when we built our home, we had a ventilated cigar room and bar included in the plans. We decided that including wine storage as part of the cigar room would be the most practical.”
They built their cellar mainly for functionality for the purpose of storing wine properly. It does its job well.
“We do have special bottles on display, some with sentimental value and a few signed by winemakers,” Suzanne added. “We invite people to go in and look anytime.”
The best thing about wine, Suzanne said, is that it’s been a wonderful pursuit for them to share.
“We really love that wine is something we enjoy as a couple,” she said. “Wine is our hobby — we’re always learning something interesting, traveling to different locations and making new friends.”
Dr. James and Angie Clark
Winfield, West Virginia
A trip to Napa Valley, California, in 1998 is when Dr. James and Angie Clark discovered their love of wine. The friends they were traveling with had quite a bit of wine expertise, and the Clarks thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
“Needless to say, we were hooked after that,” Jim recalled. “We have been back to Napa several times since and also have attended the annual wine festival in Moneta, Virginia, for the past several years.”
Joe said his wine hobby has flourished with some expertise found in an unexpected place.
“After one of our earlier trips to Napa, I happened to discover a local wine shop in — of all places — a gas station,” Jim said. “Mid Valley Mart in Hurricane, West Virginia, is a gas station that has an amazing wine selection. Some of the best labels from California, France, Italy, South Africa and more can be found there, and the owner, Osh Assi, is a walking encyclopedia of wines. Osh and I have become great friends through the years, and I buy most of my wine from him.”
It didn’t take long for the Clarks to figure out they’d need a place to store wine. They started with a large, freestanding wine refrigerator that held several cases of wine, but its capacity eventually proved to be inadequate as their interest in wine grew.
“It was fortuitous that with our new home being built there was an area in the basement that was initially planned to be backfilled. When asked by the contractor if I would be interested in that space, I immediately thought, ‘wine cellar.’”
It was an area of about 25 feet by 8 feet, with a 12-foot ceiling; its walls were made of reinforced concrete between 12 and 16 inches thick.
“This all being underground, it would have made a great bomb shelter as well, but I went with the wine cellar idea,” Jim said. “I do woodworking as a hobby; and when the lot was being cleared for the house, I saved two very large red oak trees and had them cut into lumber. I had the lumber kiln dried, so it would be ready for constructing the wine racks.”
For the space he wanted barrel vault ceilings and brick archways; but after the bricklayers were a no-show, he decided to take on the job himself, though a complete novice.
“I purchased the bricks from the boneyard of a local brickyard; and after several hours of viewing YouTube videos on the topic, I dove in,” Jim said. “It took a few months of nights and weekends to complete the four brick arches, but they turned out great. More YouTube videos were necessary to design the curved ledger boards that support the rafters for the barrel vault.”
After construction, the barrel vaults were covered in bendable drywall. A friend covered the ceilings in stucco in a skip-trowel effect, and then Jim began constructing the wine racks from the red oak. The arched door leading into the cellar is also made from the same red oak. The floor is a travertine-look tile laid in a hopscotch pattern.
“Believe it or not, I designed and built the entire cellar myself, with the exception of the stucco work. It was a big job, but a labor of love, and I couldn’t be happier with the finished product. The temperature stays fairly constant in the low 60s year-round.”
Jim and Angie enjoy wine in the cellar and often have guests over for tastings.
“It is a great place to relax and unwind. It is a great addition to our house,” Jim said.
Wine is also a contributor to wellness, he added.
“With me being a physician and Angie a nurse, we try to be health conscious,” he explained. “Eating healthy and regular exercise are two important components of healthy living. Wine reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and increases HDL, or ‘good cholesterol’. Phenolic compounds in wine have also been shown to slow the growth of certain cancers. And wine has been shown to cut the risk of osteoporosis. The fact that wine has multiple health benefits makes it a perfect fit for us.”
Mike and Diane McCarthy
Huntington, West Virginia
Mike and Diane McCarthy can trace their interest in wine back to the opening of Sip Wine Bar in May 2012. It was originally opened by Nicole Perrone and Josh Dorsey, who was a co-worker and friend of Mike’s.
“Not knowing much about wine, but enthusiastic about exploring it and wanting to support a friend’s local business, we became inaugural members of the Sip Wine Club,” Mike said. “Through that club, we were exposed to a variety of nice wines each month and developed friendships with both the staff and the other regular patrons.”
One of their early favorite wines discovered at Sip was a Pinot Noir by Falcor Winery, a Napa Valley winery owned by Jim Peterson and his wife Laurie Rich of Charleston, West Virginia. Falcor now only sells direct-to-consumer, so last year the McCarthys joined its wine club and have enjoyed periodic shipments of Falcor’s Pinot Noir and other varietals and blends.
“They make some very good wines, and it’s nice that they have a West Virginia connection,” Mike said. “In addition, Spanish red wines are my wheelhouse, including Garnacha from Priorat and Tempranillo from Rioja.”
The couple doesn’t describe their room as a “wine cellar,” but more of a “wine space” in their basement; and it’s filled with some special touches.
“When the current owner of Sip, Allison White, moved the business out of the original location to its current spot on Ninth Street, she sold the old furniture,” Mike said. “We purchased the table and chairs at which we often sat and now have set them up in our basement to recreate the cozy ambiance that we enjoyed at the establishment.”
Their collection has grown right along with their interest and appreciation of wine.
“We like to buy wine, but we rarely open bottles when it’s just the two of us at home,” Mike explained. “When our collection outpaces our storage capacity, we throw a ‘McCarthy Wine Party’ and invite several friends over to help us ‘thin the herd.’ We’re fortunate to have an enthusiastic cohort of friends willing to help us with this.”
Greg and Terry Deppner Hardin
Huntington, West Virginia
Terry Deppner Hardin’s adventures in wine tasting started approximately 32 years ago and have provided her with many years of enjoyment since.
“My first trip to Napa Valley was with three girlfriends — similar to the hit movie Sideways — where we explored different wines,” Terry recalled.
She met her husband, Greg Hardin, shortly afterward. He worked in the restaurant industry at the time and was educating himself on wine and how to taste and evolve one’s palate.
“As a former bartender and wine salesman, Greg developed his knowledge about wine for the benefit of his customers,” Terry said. “Our mutual interest in wine, among other things, led to dates at local wine tastings. Since that time, Greg and I have travelled to Napa Valley either by ourselves or with friends on numerous occasions and plan to do so in the near future. We also belong to two wine clubs in Huntington with friends who share the same interest and passion.”
Terry’s love of wine even led to the founding of the Uncorked! Wine Festival, an annual event that, in recent years, has helped raise funds for the Marshall Artists Series while bringing wine enjoyment to other like-minded individuals.
Their wine cellar is located in the basement of their two-story English Tudor home in Huntington.
“We did a complete renovation of the basement in 2005 and wanted to replicate the atmosphere of an old English pub to include a bar area to accommodate my husband’s bourbon collection, a sitting area around the stone fireplace, and a wine cellar,” Terry explained. “Our house itself has a turret-shaped entrance. As part of the overall basement renovation, we felt that the semi-circle shape was perfect for the wine cellar.”
Greg designed and built out the wine cellar itself, and Lenny McClary built and installed the wine racks. A talented woodworker, McClary has built wine racks for Rocco’s Ristorante and other homes in the region.
“While the wine cellar itself is modest-sized, holding only about 450-500 bottles, we are pleased with the aesthetics and the outcome of the cellar,” Terry said. “It is an important element of the room we have named the ‘Snooty Fox Pub.’ It provides us with functional space for entertaining and relaxing with our family and friends.”
The Hardins love to share wine with guests whenever they can, and have even used the wine cellar area a few times for fundraisers for Huntington nonprofits.
“We love wine, and we love people,” Terry said. “Pairing wine and people and throwing in some great food — those are the makings of a memorable evening.”
Carl and Gretchen Wray
Proctorville, Ohio
A love of wine began for Carl and Gretchen Wray nine years ago on their honeymoon in Italy, and led to the creation of a stunning wine cellar at their home on the Ohio River in Proctorville, Ohio.
“Together, we designed our home and planned for a wine cellar off the dining room between the kitchen and home theater, to conveniently pick a wine to pair with a meal or conversation,” Gretchen said. “Entertaining our friends and family is a big part of our lifestyle, so having the wine cellar nearby was a perfect decision.”
A builder himself, Carl Wray prepared the wine cellar by installing insulated walls, low-voltage lighting and a cooling system.
“We wanted the wine cellar to be a focal point of the dining room, so Carl installed glass double French doors at the entrance so the wine cellar could act as a functional work of art,” Gretchen said. “It took a couple of years of traveling and collecting ideas before we decided on the final design. The room was designed around a Murano-glass chandelier with colorful glass leaves we purchased as a remembrance of our honeymoon in Venice.”
Underneath the chandelier is a wine tasting table surrounded by six leather chairs. Carl also built black gloss wooden cabinets to house the wall-mounted wine racks purchased from Wine Cellar Innovations.
“In order to maximize the wine storage, we chose racks that hold bottles three deep,” Gretchen said. “We have storage for 1,656 bottles. That’s a lot of wine!”
A mirror-backed hutch that Carl built on the center wall displays some of Gretchen’s vintage glass collection.
“The wine cellar is a work of art, and we love how it turned out,” Gretchen said. “We are far from being wine connoisseurs. We enjoy drinking wine and learning about wine. We are in a wine club that meets the first Friday of each month with members who are far more knowledgeable about wine than we are, which has been an enjoyable way to learn about and try new wines.”
The wine club meetings have been on hold, but Gretchen said she looks forward to meeting again once the pandemic has passed.
“It’s not about collecting wine for us,” Gretchen said. “It’s the wine journey we enjoy — visiting vineyards and attending wine tastings while traveling, having friends over to try different wines, making food to pair with the wines and sharing the wine with our friends and family.”
Rick Keaton
Barboursville, West Virginia
Rick Keaton’s interest in wine has more of a reversed pattern than others in the community who have crafted their own wine cellars. For Rick, the interest in wine was sparked when he bought his beautiful home in Barboursville that already had a wine cellar in it. As such, he decided to put it to good use.
While he doesn’t describe himself as someone who drinks a lot of wine, Rick said he has come to appreciate the simple pleasure of sitting in his wine cellar and relaxing with a glass in hand and good company by his side. He’s also used it for entertaining — such as hosting Christmas parties and participating in the Bella Luce fundraiser for Hospice of Huntington.
“If I go somewhere and see some wines, I’ll buy a bottle or two and add them to my collection,” he said.
He said he’s learning more all the time.
“Even though I didn’t design or install the wine cellar, I appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it,” he noted. “Many of the features of the wine cellar were handmade, and it took a lot of work.”
Rick said the COVID-19 pandemic has increased his appreciation for his wine cellar. Featuring a striking mural of a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, it’s a great place to sit and remember what it’s like to travel. Positioned near his theater room, with a grand piano in a nearby space, the ambiance is relaxing and inviting.
“We’ll have a quiet evening with the piano playing, and we’ll sit and look at the mural. It feels like we’re right there in Morocco,” he said of the space. “I think a lot of people have a wine room so they can get away from the hustle and bustle and just enjoy themselves. It really refreshes you.”
Jeff and Brooke Leaberry
Huntington, West Virginia
Nearly 30 years ago, Brooke Leaberry was working at the University of Kentucky as manager of a recovery room, while her friend was manager of an operating room. They were exhausted one evening after work and decided to go get a bottle of wine somewhere and relax. They were new enough to wine that they didn’t quite know how to get the cork out, and they ended up pushing it down into the bottle instead of pulling it out.
“It was the worst bottle I’ve ever had. It was terrible,” Brooke recalled. “I thought, ‘I’m going to learn more about wine.’”
And she did. Every year, she and her husband Jeff explored more about wine and built their knowledge base.
“My husband is more knowledgeable and can tell you about wines from around the world,” she said. “He likes Sonoma County Pinot Noir, while I like Napa Valley Chardonnay.”
They relocated to Huntington about 25 years ago. Brooke teaches among the nursing faculty at Marshall, and Jeff works as an anesthesiologist. Wine is their shared hobby, and the three homes they’ve owned in Huntington have each had a designated wine cellar or room.
Their most recent home has a room featuring vintage view racks that allow them to store wine bottles on their sides in order to see the labels. They have about 300 bottles on hand and an eight-person table where they often sit to enjoy a glass of vino. Most of the wine they purchase is direct order from California.
“We’ve been on some of the shipment lists for over 20 years,” Jeff said.
Their wine room features a striking blue wall behind the racks, a gorgeous wooden table and two pieces of art that speak to these health care-minded wine enthusiasts. Both created by Florida artist Justin Gaffrey, the wall-mounted sculptures feature a thoracic cage and cranium with artistic flourishes.
“Before the pandemic, we entertained more,” Brooke said. “We cook a lot with our friends. In our new home, we’ve downsized; but we made sure to include a wine room. Most of the time, that’s where we eat meals in the evening,” she said. “We eat a little food and have some wine. The lighting is soft, and it’s comforting and relaxing.”
