Story Benita Heath | Photography Kayla Niece

Cliches may be a bore but they still retain a core of truth.

Take this one. Necessity is the mother of invention. Now let’s modify that to serendipity is mother of invention because that could describe how Twisted Vine Family Vineyard came about.

The vineyard is in Patriot near Gallipolis, about a 30 minute drive from Ironton.

Take that drive and you will find a welcoming for the individuals who drive there and their taste buds. Because sitting out on the veranda enjoying wine can be part of the experience of going to Patriot.

But before we look at how the winery came about, let’s look at what one will find at Patriot. Beautiful pale wood cottages where one can inhale the sweet air of woods and hear birds sing. Here serenity abounds.

Now let’s take a look at how the winery came about. About 14 years ago, Ed Davis planted some grapes with no particular goal in mind.

Or as the website says “what began as a gesture of love with the planting of a few grapevines has led us here to a family vineyard built on four generations of land stewardship.”

Those 400 grapevines gave Davis a surprise.

“We ended up with six tons of grapes,” Bill Davis, next generation of the family, said in a recent phone interview.

“My daughter and I like wine so we started going to schools to see if we could learn how to make it ourselves,” Davis said.

Those schools were at The Ohio State University and Kent State University.

“And we visited wineries,” he said.

Then they took that knowledge to build a winery that produces cabernets, merlots, chardonnay and fruit wines.

On Fridays and Saturdays visitors can come to Patriot to sit outside and enjoy a glass or two of wine.

“That goes from 4 to 6 and we have music,” Davis said.

The winery itself opens at 1 p.m. Fridays.

Appetizers are on the menu for those who drive to Patriot to enjoy wine there. There is a cheese tray with two hard cheeses, a cheese curd, crackers, grapes and bread. A charcuterie board of three cured meats, hard cheese, grapes and bread. Or a cheese curd plate.

The wines can be bought locally at Generations Quickstop at 2986 State Route 93 in Ironton. The phone number is 740-532-0888.

“The winery is here to enjoy and relax and be in the countryside,” Davis said.