South New Jersey, More Idyllic Than You Think!

As a New Yorker (well an honorary one), I often hear New Jersey getting a bad rap, despite the fact that they are our neighbor and that many people who live in New Jersey work and socialize in New York City. I’m guessing that the bad rap is due to the harsh portrayals of New Jerseyans in the media and on shows like Jersey Shore , The Sopranos and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Trust me, and I say this with love, New Yorkers aren’t much better.

New York has been ahead of the game in the public relations arena, with years of movies and TV shows serving as advertisements for the city in addition to extensive tourism promotion for glamorous vacations upstate, or out on Long Island. And its high time New Jersey got the same treatment!

Let me say this, South New Jersey is snapping at the heels of New York! They have a wine region that receives better weather than upstate or Long Island, and wine makers that have a deep passion to offer the best wines possible equal to and in many cases surpassing the wines of the North Fork. I learned that they are also starting to win major international awards for their offerings, it’s a wine region that is not to be missed.

A mere stone’s throw from Philadelphia, and less than 2 hours away from New York City, the region has so much to offer. As a regular Long Island visitor who enjoys their farm stands, restaurants and of course the great wine of the North Fork, I didn’t know what to expect on my first trip to South New Jersey with my husband and our friends.

As we got about an hour into New Jersey we were thrilled to see cute towns, farmland, and wonderful countryside. We all breathed that sigh of relief that comes from finding somewhere peaceful, but not too far away from the crazy chaotic city we love (but need to get away from every so often).

We started at the beautiful Auburn Road Winery. It is only 20 years old, but looks and feels older and more established. We were hosted by the amazing Scott Donnini (the owner) who helped us understand the wines and why he had grouped them together as we partook of their Guided Premium Tasting Flight (wine flights are where you get to sample a number of wines – usually 3 or 4 at a time). We had very generous small pours of four exceptional wines, the Barrell Reserve Chardonnay 2022, a Dry Rosé, their 2020 Eidolon and the 2019 Guilia (named after Scott’s wife Julianne, the co-owner and the creative force at Auburn Road). The theme of the flight was different types of wine blending, be it different types of grapes, barrels or the same type of grape from different parts of the vineyard. The four of us were all totally captivated. The wine was exceptionally good – some of the best we’ve tasted, and we’ve tasted quite a bit of wine!

Auburn Road also has a great wood fire pizza oven and with three of our group having Italian heritage, we opted for one limoncello and one pepperoni pizza. Who knew these would both be so good?! The pizza connoisseur amongst us (the straight guy) was not sure at first about the limoncello (white pizza, with lemon and lime zest with honey drizzle) but declared it a win and said he’d happily order it again, and I couldn’t agree more.

After finishing our wine and pizza, Scott ended our wine tour with something unexpected, a lavender vermouth. I was not aware vermouth came from grapes, and well, now I know. We declared Auburn Road not only a winery but a “Vermouthery”. It’s not a real word but we all decided that for Auburn Road and Scott we’d make an exception. The vermouth tasted wonderful neat on its own and we are excited to mix into our martinis the next time we indulge.

As we left Auburn Road, we took a moment to look at Cowtown Rodeo, the “oldest weekly professional rodeo in the United States.” Cowtown Rodeo was – and is – known nationwide due to live national TV exposure in 1958 & 1959 and syndicated exposure nationwide in 1969 & 1970. We didn’t see any competition since it was just before the season was about to start, but it was still busy with a market, and western store! So, if you need a fix of cowboy culture, it’s right here in South Jersey (Season starts July 6th).

Our next stop was the refreshing Farmers and Bankers Brewery in the very cute town of Woodstown. The day we visited Rebecca and Michael Melniczuk were celebrating their 2-year anniversary as owners. As an antique enthusiast, Michael was captivated by the architecture and history of the First National Bank building which has been an iconic landmark and focal point of downtown Woodstown for 130 years. After being vacant for 12 years, in August 2021, Michael and Rebecca purchased the building and together, with support from family, friends, and the community, they started on a 10-month journey to renovate the space and create Farmers & Bankers Brewing. Rebecca welcomed us on a very busy day but made sure we had a great beer, and a warm welcome. It was not hard to see the love the place has from locals, that kept it busy all afternoon. Do not miss this cool location and sample a beer or two!

After that we took a little look around the Mullica Hill Historic District. It featured a very nice high street, with beautiful houses and stores, as well as the Ellis Shivers House, from 1771. If you love antiques, don’t miss “The Sign of St. George”. Be sure to check out Mademoiselle Macaron French Bakery and Tea Room which is right across the road. We ended our tour of the town with a trip to the Farm House Design Store which had beautiful contemporary household gifts and candles (they also had amazing customer service).

Since the particular day we were visiting had temperatures in the upper 90’s, we headed back to the car for some relief in the air conditioning and headed onwards to the last winery of the day – the beautiful William Heritage Winery (Mullica Hill Tasting Room), owned and operated by Bill & Penni Heritage with help from their sons – Richard, Bryan & Erik.  The family has been farming in Mullica Hill, New Jersey for six generations. We were warmly welcomed into their newly renovated tasting room, which is stunning, and opted for wine flights, as we were still in the mood to sample as many different new wines as possible. We opted for a flight of 5 wines, that started with the Pet Nat Rosé 2023, A Grenache Syrah Rosé, the 2023 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, the 2023 Stainless Steel Red, and finished with the 2021 Reserve Five Gen, all delivered in a stunning spiral glass holder. Again, all the wines were stunning, my favorite was the Pet Nat Rose, a more rustic version of champagne, perfect for a hot summer day! As we had already eaten lunch, we opted for a cheese box to share, and at $20 this cheese box would have been perfect for two people to have lunch, but instead four of us for snacks. It was a lot of bang for your buck. We will be back!

That night we checked in to the Courtyard Glassboro Rowan University Hotel, which had many amenities including a pool, and an onsite Starbucks for that coffee fix. Many restaurants are within walking distance, which meant it was not far for our dinner reservation that night.

We headed to the bustling La Scala Fire which featured a wonderful traditional Italian menu in a contemporary setting. Service was impeccable, and food portions were amazingly generous. It truly felt like you were having dinner with your Grandma/Nonna making sure you had heaps of helpings! We did not go hungry. The desserts were wonderful and we can’t recommend this place enough.

The next day we headed out for coffee in the gay owned coffee shop, Grooveground which is a contemporary coffee bar and cafe located in the heart of Downtown Collingswood. Opened in 2002, and serving delicious La Colombe coffee, as well as teas, salads, paninis, fresh baked goods, and desserts. We certainly had Great coffee, as well as a pastry each, and the staff were wonderful. They also sell cool items like vintage vinyl, pride merch and other gifts. Its location is right next to the local Pride street crossing too! We had to take a pic! Collingswood has a great selection of very cool stores, and restaurants too.

With two horror nerds in our crowd, we had to head to Haddonfield, (just a few mins down the street from Collingswood) which is the name of the fictional town in the original Halloween movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The movie was made in California and in the story, Haddonfield is in Illinois, but this Haddonfield in New Jersey was where one of the movie’s creators, Debra Hill, grew up, so it has quite the horror movie connection for genre fans.

Besides the Halloween connection, Haddonfield is not to be missed! It was here in Haddonfield where they discovered the first complete dinosaur skeletons in America, and a striking statue proudly declares it right on the high street. Also, there was not one, but three British shops here – a Fish and Chip Shop, a beautiful China shop called the Queens Carriage, and the English Gardner Gift Shop, full of amazing gifts, Christmas decorations and shelf after shelf of English groceries that would be enough to stock a small English village shop. It was not just candy but tinned foods, jams, cookies and even bread and sausages, a real taste of home for a Brit such as me, William Heritage has a wine bar in town and the Inkwood Bookshop had a great pride themed window display. The town had a real bustle, and I didn’t see one chain store. It felt so welcoming.

Next we headed to the last stop of the trip, the Sharrott Winery which was about 30 mins from Haddonfield. We were greeted expertly by the staff, and we were seated next to huge picture windows that overlooked the vineyards (again at over 90 degrees it was too hot to sit outside). The winery had the best of both worlds, cool air and the vineyards right out in front of us. We had the opportunity to meet with the founders of Sharrott Winery Larry & Eileen, who told us the history. Larry is a former computer engineer and Eileen, a former teacher. They bought some land in the area about 20 years ago and set about creating an expertly designed winery.

We tasted many of their wines, and each of us created a bespoke wine flight from there extensive list, I opted for the Sparkling Rosé (whimsical & Romantic) which was exceptionally refreshing, the Pinot Grigio (Graceful & Fruit Forward) which was very subtle, and the unoaked Chardonnay (Unique & Sharp) last, but by no means least. For lunch we shared the burrata caprese, and I had the most excellent individual frittata. Our friend Rosa had the chicken and waffle, my husband John had the crab cakes, and Corey had the Pork Egg Roll and Cheese sandwich, which was NOT small. All the dishes were prepared by the bustling kitchen that is in full view of the patrons!

I was lucky enough to chat about wines with Mr. Sharrott, who is an expert, of course, and he informed me that a senior wine sommelier from Italy had recently visited and declared his love for the wine at Sharrott’s so we were in great company. As a special treat we were offered a taste of the Wicked Port, which was a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

On the ride home (thanks Corey!) we all declared a newfound love of South New Jersey. The region is beautiful, and the food and drink is equal if not better in some cases than other wine regions of the northeast. But don’t take my word for it, go see for yourself! Within striking distance of Philadelphia and New York, its an easy day or weekend trip. You won’t be sorry!

For more information head to visitsouthjersey.com