The annual Cape May Wine Festival will be taking place on October 10^th and 11^th, from 12-5 p.m. at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal, overlooking the Cape May Canal and Delaware Bay.

More than 20 New Jersey wineries will be on hand to offer guests some of the finest locally produced Chardonnay, Chambourcin, Syrah, Marechal Foch, Viognier, Traminette, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. There will also be a large array of fruit wines such as raspberry, cherry, and blueberry to satisfy sweet wine lovers.

In addition to wine sampling, festival goers will be treated to live music, various types of vendors, and a “Kids Zone” for those who are bringing the whole family.  Festival attendees can also take advantage of “Victorian Week” which will be running through the end of Sunday.

  
Anyone interested in learning more about this particular festival can call The Garden State Wine Growers Association at 609-588-0085 or visit their website. 

With the weather in the Northeast being nearly perfect, this should be a truly relaxing and enjoyable event.  

Cheers!

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“More than two hundred years ago, London’s Royal Society of the Arts recognized two New Jersey vintners for their success in producing the first bottles of quality wine derived from colonial agriculture. Today New Jersey’s wineries continue the tradition of producing high quality wines”.

Having attended several New Jersey wine festivals so far this year, I can honestly say that the spirit and tradition of making quality wines is alive and kickin’ in the Garden State!

On Saturday, September 26^th and Sunday, September 27^th from Noon to 5 pm, the Garden State Wine Growers Association will be showcasing Jersey’s finest at the first annual SIPtember Wine Festival that will be held at Essex County Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, New Jersey.   

Guests attending this event will have an opportunity to sample more than 250 New Jersey produced wines from more than 25 New Jersey wineries. This two-day festival will not only include New Jersey state award-winning wines, but shall also include live entertainment, gourmet food vendors, crafters, and kids’ activities on both days as well.

Admission for this event is $25 a person.  Five dollars from each admission will be donated to the Essex County Parks Foundation of the Essex County Department of Parks, a key sponsor of this festival. 

For more information about this particular wine festival or other upcoming New Jersey wine events, check out the Garden State Wine Growers Association website.

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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.

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This year’s festival will feature over 200 different New Jersey produced wines as well as great live jazz entertainment that will include Jazz in Pastel and the Gambone Project.  Guests will also have the opportunity to explore the grounds of Allaire State Park which was once home in the early 19th Century to an industrial iron producing community.

Among the New Jersey wineries participating in this year’s event will be the 2009 winners of the New Jersey Wine Competition including Winery of the Year Award winner, Alba Vineyard, Tomasello Winery, which won the Governor’s Cup and the award for Best Dessert Wine, Heritage Vineyards, which took the Governor’s Cup for Grape Wine with its 2005 Chambourcin and Plagido’s Winery, which garnered the award for Best American Wine with its Antonio Rosso Fredonia, along with many other outstanding New Jersey wineries.

This weekend’s live entertainment will showcase, The Gambone Project featuring Vel Johnson on saxophone, performing on Saturday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. This quartet offers a full range of jazz, including traditional and smooth jazz and rhythm and blues.  In addition to Vel Johnson, the group features Gregg Gambone on piano, Jonathan Sims on drums and Kevin Sanders on vibes.

On Sunday, Sept. 6^th from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. the jazz quartet Jazz in Pastel, led by Buzz Saylor, a premier jazz drummer who has worked with such legendary jazz musicians as Wynton Marsalis, Tony Levin, Steve Rodby and John Helliwell to name a few will be taking the stage and showcasing their classic jazz improvisation style that crosses over both jazz and rock.

This is a family-friendly event as there will be activities for the kids, including arts & crafts, face painting, and games.  In addition to this, the onsite Howell Works Company Store Museum and Gift Shop and the Howell Works Bakery will also be open.

If you are interested in finding out more about the festival, you can either call The Garden State Wine Growers Association at 609-588-0085 or go the association website at www.newjerseywines.com. Tickets for the festival are $20 a person at the gate.  Advance tickets can be purchased only at the association web site for $18 per person.  A discount price of $16 per person is available for bus groups and group sales of 15 or more.

Additional information can be found on The Historic Village at Allaire website.

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This past Saturday, my wife and I took another trip over the Commodore Barry Bridge to taste what New Jersey had to offer in locally grown and produced wines.  The weekend long Jersey Fresh Wine & Food Festival was hosted by Heritage Vineyards located in Mullica Hill, NJ.  As we made our way through the entrance, we were surprised by the number of large white tents that lined the vineyard’s grounds.  There were a total of 28 wineries of the state’s 33 wineries on hand showcasing the best of the Garden State.

Although I am rather ashamed to admit this, being in a neighboring state to New Jersey, prior to attending this year’s festival I actually had no idea that so many wineries even existed in New Jersey.  But that was then, and now I know better!  Another interesting fact that I learned is that the state’s 33 wineries produce the sixth largest amount of wine among US states, according to a 2008 Wine Industry Report .  What’s even more impressive about these production numbers is the rather large number of different types of wine that is being produced in New Jersey.  Because of its climate and geological diversity, there are more than 40 different varieties of grapes being grown here – ranging from Pinot Noir and Riesling in North Jersey and Italian varieties, such as Sangiovese and Barbera, in Southern Jersey.  At the festival, my wife and I were formally introduced to two new wine grapes that we had personally never tried before:  Vidal Blanc (a white grape) and Chambourcin (a red grape).  Both are native French grapes and both are widely planted by different New Jersey Wine Growers.  We were particularly impressed by Ventimiglia Vineyard’s 2007 Vidal Blanc and the 2007 Chambourcin, and we also enjoyed Hopewell Valley Vineyard’s 2006 Chambourcin as well.

Besides the excitement of trying two new types of wine, we also did our very best to navigate our way through more than 200 New Jersey wines without having to be hauled out by wheelbarrow or the large farm tractor that was being used as a shuttle bus.  Somehow though, we did manage to get through it and wound up discovering many new wineries and found a few wines that were downright delicious! 

The first winery that we really took a liking to was Alba Vineyard located in Milford, NJ.  The Garden State Wine Growers Association recently named Alba Vineyard the 2009 Winery of the Year.  After tasting their full line-up, we can certainly see why they received this prestigious award.  Nearly every wine that we sampled hit the mark.  One red wine in particular that we enjoyed was called “Old Mill Red”.  This was a blended wine, and at $10 bucks a bottle it was mighty good!  We also found it quite refreshing that our pourer knew a great deal about the wines and showed a genuine passion for them.

The next Jersey winery at this event that we really took a liking to was the Laurita Winery.  There were several reasons why we enjoyed our time with Laurita.  First, they were the only winery at the festival that took the time to set up a “mock tasting room”.  When you walked into their tent area, they had a real tasting table set up with bread and olive oil that gave one the feeling as if they were walking into their actual tasting room.  They also brought in some nice artwork and added they’re own music under the tent to enhance the tasting experience.  In addition, I can’t say enough nice things about our pourer and the other folks working the tasting table.  They were very enthusiastic about the wine and treated guests like new friends.  Besides the charming ambiance that they created, we found all of their white and red wines to be pretty damn good, especially on a hot Saturday afternoon.  All of the winery’s white wines showcased good acidity and citrus flavors and they also offered several very good chilled red wines like “Tailgate Red” and “Relaxing Red”, which were absolutely perfect on a sunny day like this one.  Kudos to the folks at Laurita Winery for providing such a nice and relaxing tasting experience, along with great wines to sample!

There was however, one winery at the event that made me go back for seconds and then thirds.  That winery was Amalthea Cellars.  Mr. Louis Caracciolo is the mastermind behind this New Jersey winery.  He has spent many moons in Bordeaux, France learning how to make exceptional First-Growth red wines, and is also very well versed in California winemaking techniques as well.  Mr. Caracciolo spends most of his time these days making remarkable Bordeaux-style blends in Atco, NJ.  The Amalthea Cellars wines that beat my taste buds like a drum were the 2006 Europa 4 and the 2007 Europa 7. 

Finally, one of the highlights of this year’s festival for me was the opportunity to meet and talk a little wine with Mr. George M. Taber, author of “Judgment of Paris” and “To Cork or Not to Cork”.  I also had the pleasure of meeting and discussing wine with a Professional International Wine Judge, Mr. Michael A. Schaefer of the Society of Wine Educators.  Mr. Schaefer hosted a seminar at the event, providing folks with information on how to properly evaluate a wine.

While in between tastings, I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Taber about his experience on that historic day in Paris in 1976.  However, we spent more time talking about the present, like the New Jersey wines that we were sampling and his most recent wine project.  Unfortunately, Mr. Taber bound me to secrecy about his upcoming book entitled “In Search of Bacchus – Wanderings in the Wonderful World of Wine Tourism”, but what I can tell you about his upcoming book is that he’s still welcome in Bordeaux, France and that a Denis Dubourdieu white Bordeaux will put a grin on his face from ear to ear.   So be on the lookout for his new book – it sounds like it will be a terrific read!

Thank you to the Garden State Wine Growers Association (GSWGA) for a wonderful festival.  I would also like to personally thank Mr. Richard Small for his kind generosity, and Judge Michael Schaefer and Mr. George Taber for sharing their time and insight with me!

Cheers!

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