WineLife365

This past Sunday my wife and I traveled to New Jersey and attended the 2009 Jazz It Up Wine and Food Festival that was held at Allaire State Park in Farmingdale, New Jersey.  We knew that it was going to be a two hour ride to get there, but we sure as heck weren’t expecting to have to endure a more than ½ hour crawl the last mile from the park’s entrance to the designated parking area.  We witnessed several motorists wave the proverbial white surrender flag in our convoy and decide that a change in plans would be better than waiting another minute to drink some wine.  I tell you, being stuck on that long country road into the park made me feel as if we were heading to “Winestock” rather than “Jazz It Up”.  And to make matters even worse, guests that didn’t purchase their tickets in advance were then greeted with yet another long line at the entrance.

Once finally inside the historic Village at Allaire, I could see why this is New Jersey’s largest wine festival.  The grounds within the Village at Allaire is a beautiful venue for hosting this event; with it’s mature trees, historical buildings, iron works shop, general store, bakery, and a locomotive train that guests can ride.

As we made our way up to the wine, food and music area; it was amazing to watch the large crowds of people hustling with their wine glasses from one tent to the next.  One gentleman that was working at this event told us that over 8,000 people attended the festival the day before.

Even with the large crowds, there were several New Jersey wineries that were up for the challenge of keeping glasses full and purple-inked smiles on the sea of faces that lined up at their tasting tables.  One particular New Jersey winery that nearly accomplished this single handedly was Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery.  Ms. Julianne Donnini was absolutely incredible as she poured and kept perfect track of what everyone was drinking, while still being able to talk about the wines that she was pouring.  One of the wines that Ms. Donnini poured for us was called Classico.  As you might have guessed by its name, this red wine is a New Jersey inspired Super Tuscan and it was absolutely delicious for $18.99 a bottle.

As my wife and I made our way around to the other wineries’ tasting tents, we had an equally good experience with the folks at Heritage Vineyards.  Our pourer from Heritage effortlessly filled glasses with some really great wines while engaging wine lovers in conversation.  In the course of tasting the Heritage Vineyards line-up, there were several wines that we felt delivered exceptional value and great taste.  First, was the Steel Rails Red.  This wine was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.  It had rich flavors, and for $12.99 was a great value.  We also enjoyed their wine called “Red Caboose” which they were selling for $18.00.  This wine sported the same Bordeaux blend as the Steel Rails Red, but had a touch of Chambourcin grape in it to give it a little more oomph.

Finally, our two favorite wines from Heritage Vineyards were the 2006 Estate Syrah priced at $18.00 and the 2006 limited production Chambourcin which was priced at $22.50 a bottle.  Both of these wines were big, ripe, and peppery.  The long and skinny on both of these wines would be like Forrest Gump saying, “I like these two wines a lot”.  Trust me, they’re both outstanding wines that are certainly worth contacting Heritage Vineyards to get some.

I would also like to give a shout out to a new (for me) dry white wine called Traminette that I discovered at the festival.  Traminette is a hybrid cross of Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc.  My wife and I enjoyed trying several of them.

Last but not least, if sweet is your thing then you would have been in sweet tooth heaven.  No Jersey wine fest would be complete without a spectrum of sweet wines. There were plenty of Jersey wineries serving up some very tasty dessert wines and a few that brought me back to my early Boone’s years.

Special thanks to the Garden State Wine Growers Association for putting together such a terrific festival.  We look forward to attending next year!  To see all of the pictures that were taken at the festival, visit the WineLife365 Fan Page.

If you’re interested in learning more about New Jersey made wines visit The Garden State Wine Grower’s Association website.