Post or Edit your listingTo receive new listings daily via email.Never been to Napa?? Well, New Jersey Wines and Wineries have come a long and there are Award-Winning Wineries just minutes from the inn. Ask about special perks for Main Street Manor guests from our Winery Partners! Unionville Vineyard: Located in Ringoes, just 5 minutes from the Inn, Unionville Vineyards is New Jersey's Premier Award Winning Winery. Award-Winning Winemaker Cameron Stark's handcrafted artisan wines are a perfect complement to the winery's ambience and Olde World feel. Hours of operation are daily from noon until 5:00pm, 7 days a week. Winery tours are available on some weekend days, during festivals and special events. Located in Ringoes, just 5 minutes from the inn, Old York's Cellars brand new facility (2010) is home to International Award-Winning winemaker Scott Gares. Scott creates poetry in a bottle and combines the use of modern equipment with traditional winemaking values. Winery Tours are Saturdays & Sundays at 2pm and are complimentary + available on first come, first serve basis.

Awesome Gift-Shoppe Wine items + home to NJ's 'What Exit' wines! Hopewell Valley Vineyard: Just 15 minutes from the Inn you'll think you're in Italy as you experience three generations of Tuscan winemaking. Vineyards are planted with vinifera, Italian, and New World favorites. Added to these grapes, is an old world hospitality which produces a winery that is not only a place to purchase great wines, but also a destination in itself. Terhune Orchards & Winery: An orchard and farm for years in Princeton, Terhune's is now a full-fledged winery! Stop by and we think you'll agree it is different from other wineries you may have visited. Still getting their feet-wet, or should we say purple with wine production, see if you can guess why we kind-of fancy their 'Front Porch Breeze' variety. Alba Winery & Vineyard: Nestled in the Village of Finesville, Milford NJ (about 30 minutes from the Inn), is picturesque Alba Vineyard. Built in 1805, a historic barn on the property now houses the winery and tasting room, as well as the Musconetcong Art Gallery.

Throughout the year, exhibits of artwork, from both prominent and emerging local artists is displayed, both on the main floor and in the upstairs balcony. Winery hours are Sunday through Friday: 11 am - 5 pm, Saturday: 11 am - 6 pm. Admission to the gallery is free, and all works are for sale. Beneduce Vineyards: A young NJ Winery, open for tastings Wednesday - Sunday. Weekend music & wine events open to the public, so check their website for details. Villa Milagro: Located along the Delaware River, Warren Hills Appellation, its breathtaking views help earn the name "House of Miracles." The Winery uses organic, sustainable practices and ten varieties of grapes to create their complex and innovative wines. Weekend tastings from 11am - 5pm and lots of public weekend events, so check their website for information. Sand Castle Winery: Never been to Napa but looking for a wine education? Located in Bucks County, Pa, just 20 minutes from the Inn, Sand Castle is passionate about wine education.

They offer world-class wine courses to those who are interested in learning more about wine, from grape harvesting and fermentation to tastings and food pairings. best wine bar venice beach3 different tours are offered depending on the information you are interested in.best wine bars the rocks sydney Crossing Vineyards and Winery: Crossing Vineyard & Winery is located just 15 minutes from the Inn and is on a two hundred year old estate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, less than a mile from the place where George Washington crossed the Delaware River in 1776. best wine bar cambridge maOpen Daily from 12pm-6pm. Check their 'Special Events' page for creative Wine Classes!wine by the case

The Ship Inn - New Jersey's first brew-pub, Milfordwine bar les vignes River Horse Brewery, Lambertvillewhere to buy brewers yeast for wine Long Valley Pub & Brewery, Long Valley Triumph Brewery, Princeton, NJ & New HopeEVERY GREAT ROAD trip needs a theme song, and “I’m from New Jersey,” by was just the right tune for my recent Garden State wine tour. The lyrics capture the spirit of the vintners I met, some of whom used the same words to describe themselves: “New Jersey people, they will surprise you / ’Cause they’re not expected to do too much / They will try harder, they may go further / ’Cause they never think that they are good enough.” New Jersey’s winemaking history stretches back centuries, but its producers never earned much attention or respect until recently.

Maybe that’s because most New Jersey wines weren’t particularly good: usually quite sweet and, as often as not, made not from grapes but blueberries, strawberries and cranberries. Sweet and fruit wines still dominate the Garden State market—they pay the bills, one winemaker explained—but a handful of producers are working to change that and create a wine region of note. Winemaking in New Jersey, the state I’ve called home for the past several years, mostly takes place in the west and south. The state has three official appellations, or AVAs, though not all wineries use these place names on their labels. Some simply say “New Jersey” out of pride or necessity (because they source grapes from several places or are located outside of an appellation). Warren Hills, in the west, is the smallest AVA, with very few wineries, while Central Delaware Valley is slightly larger and includes part of Pennsylvania. The third AVA, Outer Coastal Plain, however, covers more than 2 million acres over several southern counties.

It is home to about half of the state’s nearly 50 wineries, giving the region the greatest concentration of vineyards in New Jersey. This “garden” of the Garden State is where I started my two-day tour, focusing on wineries—in and out of the official AVAs—that had received some sort of acclaim. My first stop was Bellview Winery in Landisville, where I met vegetable-farmer-turned-vintner his son Scott and their winemaker, at a ranch-house-style tasting room. The Quarellas grow 21 different grape varieties. Jim Quarella, a fourth-generation farmer who traded in his Asian vegetables for wine grapes 16 years ago, explained that they are “trying to figure out what [variety] does best.” He added: “New Jersey doesn’t have established grape varieties.” More On Wine Great Cabernet at a Fraction of the Price? Look to Sonoma Albariño: A Taste of Coastal Spain in a Wine Glass Should You Sip and Cycle? The Pros and Cons of Biking Through Napa Valley 20 Splendid Summer Wines—All Under $20 Message in a Bottle Novelist Rumaan Alam on a Tequila That Actually Improves the Memory What Whiskey Pairs Best With a Hootenanny?

Author Idra Novey Savors a Rum to Celebrate President Obama’s Cuba Visit Novelist Alexander Chee Embraces the Bitter in a Bottle of Sommer Fleur de Sommer That turned out to be an understatement. During my travels I encountered vintners working with European (vinifera) grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as well as hybrid grapes such as Traminette and Chambourcin, hardy varieties that can withstand both fungal diseases and extreme cold. Bellview Winery uses both Traminette, a cross between the Gewürztraminer and Joannes Seyve 23.416 white grapes, and Chambourcin, a red of uncertain parentage. I liked their sprightly, spicy 2015 Bellview Traminette ($14) and fairly light-bodied 2013 Chambourcin ($15). The 2013 Cabernet Franc was a pleasant, soft red with a tobacco and green olive note, though perhaps a bit pricey at $25. Mr. Gardner, one of many self-taught winemakers I met on my trip, said he thought Cabernet Franc could put New Jersey on the map, noting there were several successful Garden State versions of the grape.

My next stop was Plagido’s Winery in Hammonton, the “blueberry capital of the world.” Like virtually every producer I met, owner (another farmer turned vintner) keeps a huge display of ribbons and medals from wine competitions all over the country in his tasting room. general manager of Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes, explained that the mementos offer validation and help overcome the stereotype that New Jersey wine is bad. Scores are clearly an important form of validation, too. announced the scores of each of the wines I tasted. “That one got an 87 from ” he said of his 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon. It was the first time I’ve heard a winemaker brag about a score under 90 points. I stopped at a few more wineries in the area before heading up to the state’s western winemaking regions in Warren and Hunterdon counties, but the wines were so bad I’d rather not name them. In western New Jersey, where the hills are dotted with more horse farms and McMansions than in the south, winemakers generally talk of their proximity to New York instead of their closeness to Pennsylvania or Delaware.

owner of Alba Vineyard, spoke of his relationship to Oregon, noting his frequent travels to the state and that he grows the same grapes (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) as Oregon vintners. ‘New Jersey’s winemaking history stretches back centuries, but producers never earned much attention until recently.’ Mr. Sharko is an exception in other ways. He was a furnituremaker, not a farmer, when he bought the then-foreclosed Alba winery in 1997. He was interested in the land and the barn, not the grapes. Only later did he decide to go into the wine business, making what he now calls his “smartest move”: hiring a trained professional who has been making wine in New Jersey for more than 30 years. (The state has few trained winemakers; most have learned by trial and error over the years. at Unionville Vineyards and of Beneduce Vineyards are among the limited number of trained vintners in New Jersey.) “There are two problems with New Jersey wine: the lack of professionalism in the industry and that nobody really grows the same thing,” which means the state lacks the advantage of a central identity, said Mr. Sharko, as we toured his vineyards.

He grows many grape varieties, but is particularly proud of his Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. When we met Mr. Altmaier at the winery, he voiced his own complaint. After three decades of making wine in New Jersey, he said, he was “getting to the jealous stage. I can pick up a thick book about wine and that book won’t even mention New Jersey wines.” His wines definitely warrant mention, most notably the 2015 Dry Riesling, which was bright and lively; the 2015 Chelsea Dry rosé, a juicy and quaffable wine made from Chambourcin; and the 2013 Estate Pinot Noir, a light and savory red with true varietal character. All are reasonably priced, from $12 to $25. That brings up another problem with many New Jersey wines: They tend to be rather expensive, given their quality. I tasted some wines that cost more than $40 but weren’t as good as wines from around the world that cost far less. ‘‘I can pick up a thick book about wine and that book won’t even mention New Jersey wines.’’

At nearby Beneduce Vineyards, which I reached by driving through an upscale housing development, Mr. Beneduce is hitting all the marks, making good varietal and hybrid wines at fairly reasonable prices. I was impressed by several of his wines, especially the rich, polished 2014 Cabernet Franc ($28). Mr. Beneduce doesn’t distribute his wines but sells them from the family-owned winery—a better financial model, he said. I ended my tour at Mount Salem Vineyards, where former investment banker planted vineyards and started a winery in 2005. The self-taught Mr. Leitner makes about 1,500 cases of 10 different wines a year, although he hopes to eventually narrow his selection to four. The winemaker relies on word-of-mouth to sell his wines, and it seems to be working. Most of the wines I tasted—a Grüner Veltliner, a Riesling, a Barbera and various Blaufränkisch blends—were sold out. His 2014 Barbera was delicious, marked by lively red fruit. I also liked the deeply flavored, yet-to-be-released 2014 Blaufränkisch blend.