Held on October 12-13 at Manahawkin Lake Park, the Stafford Fall Wine Festival was an incredibly fun, family and dog-friendly event. With Domino the Winery Dog in tow, hubby and I made our way past bounce houses, vendors, carnival games, food trucks, a beer wagon (with Angry Orchard too!) and 2 stages of live music. The stage by the wine tasting tents featured the IMPULSIVES, who entertained us all afternoon with an impressive repertoire of classic and modern rock.
After paying our admission fees, hubby and I immediately hit CHESTNUT RUN FARM’s tent, since they have no tasting room and festivals are the only opportunity where we can enjoy their excellent Asian Pear, Plum, and Fuji Apple wines.
Next up was CREAM RIDGE WINERY, who bucked the trend by selling just one item – Pollo Loco Sangria. Fruity and refreshing, this sangria came in an adorable little bottle and was a huge hit at the festival.
CODA ROSSA WINERY held the most efficiently run tastings by far. Unlike the other wineries where you had to fight your way to the table and thrust out your glass in hopes of getting a random pour, Coda Rossa had everyone form a single line, calmly took us ten at a time and ran us through a proper tasting in the correct order of sampling to ensure nothing got missed – Peacho Grigio, Sweet Jane, Black Bird and Sweet Harmony were my faves. Kudos to Coda Rossa for making order out of chaos!
VILLARI VINEYARDS was the most crowded tent of the day and once we fought our way to the front, we discovered their wonderful One Nation series of sweet wines – Red, White, Blue, Pink, Passion and Pink Lemonade – perfectly refreshing for this seventy degree day and at $11.99 each, a huge bargain too!
AUBURN ROAD VINEYARDS dazzled us with their Sole, Rosalita, Give Peach a Chance and Blessington sweet wines, all $15 or less.
DIMATTEO WINERY had sadly sold out of Diamond by the time we reached their tent but they did have my favorite wine from them – Pasquale Red. We also enjoyed their Riesling, Niagra, Apple, Blackberry and Crantasia.
MONROEVILLE VINEYARD dazzled us with their Apple, Monroeville Red and Monroeville White wines and I was very sad to hear that their Hammonton tasting room was closing.
WAGONHOUSE WINERY rocked our world with their Autumn Goddess, Shore Thing, Sandy Knees Sangria and Nutty Quaker sweet wines. Chocolate lovers be sure to check out their Fallen Quaker wine.
Alas, due to crowding we never did get to visit PLAGIDO’S WINERY’s tent so a trip to their vineyards is a must in the near future.
This was our first time at the Stafford Fall Wine Festival and we loved everything about it, from the beauty of the park to the rocking live music to the impressive selection of vendors; we will definitely be back next year!