We chose to dive into the heat and visit some air conditioned local wineries in South Jersey this past weekend. Thanks to Groupon, we were able to tour five out of the seven vineyards of the Two Bridges Wine Trail for an unbelievable discount. We decided to be daring and visit all five in one day.
1. Bellview Winery
Hands down, one of the best. Our first stop of the tour started in Buena at Bellview Winery. As soon as you pull up, you’ll see the extensive vineyard and a deceiving house-like tasting room. Once you walk in there’s a medium sized seating area to have light fare and glasses of your choice. The tasting area is so welcoming where you walk straight up to the bar. The friendly employees are what made this experience at Bellview worthwhile. Besides the quality wine, they give you information on each wine and their list has wines for just about anyone. You can taste sweet, red, white, fruit wines and others. There was a friendly Border Collie that mingled with tasters which was just the cherry on top for this visit. After visiting a few more wineries later that day, we realized we would be revisiting Bellview in our near future.
2. Monroeville Vineyard & Winery
Monroeville Winery looked similar to a barn -- perfect for the vineyard atmosphere. We received five samples here rather than the eight that most of the other wineries provided so the tasting was quick. The winery is recently new since it was planted in 2010 and opened to the public in 2012. The wines were average but they did offer diverse fruit wines like plum and Asian pear. The designated tasting area is pretty small fitting two groups.
3. Wagonhouse Winery
Wagonhouse Winery felt like home. The tasting area was open with many different seating options where you can sit at the bar or choose a private table. The rustic theme was appropriate considering the tasting room was once the Swedesboro farm’s original wagon house. There were a lot of wine options here with clever names like Shore Thing and Autumn Goddess that come with cute descriptions. Wagonhouse provides a food menu where you can pair your wine with a variety of different foods besides the usual cheese and meats.
4. Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery
Auburn Road in Pilesgrove had a nice inside area with seating and plenty of bar room. They had a beautiful outside area with tables that would be perfect for a breezy summer day. This winery was definitely the busiest and had tables reserved for bigger parties later in the day. They had an assortment of wines but unfortunately many were out of stock the day we went. This gave us limited options on our tastings. The employees were friendly and gave detailed descriptions of the wines. Auburn Road has a full menu – we didn’t taste the pizza but it looked delicious.
5. Cedarvale Winery
Our last stop on the tour was Cedarvale Winery in Logan Township. It was a pretty small winery with an equally small wine tasting list. Like most of the wineries on this list, they make some of their wines of local fruits. Cedarvale Farms is located right across the street where fourth-generation farmer Ed Gaventa grows some of his fruits. There was an apple, strawberry, and cherry wine that were delicious. The employee had excellent customer service and we assumed she was one of the owners. Right behind her, there were a few plaques showing the name “Ed and Marsha Gaventa." Later on Yelp, we confirmed our suspicions that the employee was Marsha herself. One Yelp reviewer put it perfectly, “Walking into Cedarvale is like entering Marsha Gaventa’s living room.” She invited you in as if you were visiting her home.
