I’ve been meaning to mention this New
York Times article about New
Jersey wineries that came out right before Christmas. NJ may not have a state slogan or the best beaches for surfing…but they’ve got some
excellent offerings in the wine department that should not be overlooked. The Garden State Wine Growers Association offers an impressive selection of wine trails to explore. Several of the routes they recommend include a stop at the one NJ
winery I’ve been to: Cream Ridge Winery, which was recently
named Winery of the Year 2005. I visited the winery a few years ago to pick up some bottles of their award winning
cherry dessert wine, Ciliegia Amabile to give as gifts to
family members. We are not related to the friendly folks at Cream Ridge, but just had to purchase some bottles of the
yummy wine that bears our family name and "tastes like cherry pie". One book I can suggest for more info is
Discovering
New Jersey Wineries by Kevin Atticks, an informative guide to several wineries in the state. The book is a little
dated now, but still worth checking out. (Kevin is an old college friend of mine so I’ll mention that he’s also written
books on the wines of Lake
Erie and Maryland
too :)