Wine festival at Valenzano Winery

Valenzano Winery
1320 Old Indian Mills Road
Shamong, NJ 08088
(609) 268-6731

We read about this festival in our local paper.  Valenzano throws the biggest wine festival in these parts, and it fit in perfectly with our AC trip. 

Valenzano is a relatively new family-run winery established in 1990.  Since then, their vineyards have grown from three acres to 84.  The vines here are typical for the region, and seemed almost identical to the grapes grown at the other winery we visited.  Did you know that Vineland, NJ (in the vicinity) and therabouts used to grow a heckuva lot of grapes back then for at least one big grape juice company?
By the time we arrived, there were already many people streaming in, with coolers, picnic baskets, blankets,chairs, and even their furs!!! The lucky ones had private tents reserved for the event and had trays of food.  The weather was all that you could ask for--- blue skies, perfect temps and low humidity.  The turnout was really good.

For a $10 entry fee (kids free), you get a wine glass for tasting Valenzano's wines (white, red and fruit wines---17 in all!).  The wines are mostly sweet,fruity and kinda bubblegum-y.

Valenzano's selection included several fruity reds and whites.  Fruit wines were also represented.  I rather fancied the white cranberry wine, which had a very nice zingy flavor.

DJKung's dad got a bottle of "Dangerous Red," a syrupy fruit punch-flavored rose.

Here's another tasting station.

Besides the wines, they had two stages with live music (cover songs and jazz), a big tent for arts and crafts merchandise, games for the kids, pony rides, and even helicopter rides!  Plenty of food stalls too, even deep-fried oreos!!!  

Besides all that, it was just lovely walking around and admiring their landscaped grounds and plantings.

Classic car show.  DJKung's dad even saw a car exactly like the first car he drove, and he got a real kick out of it.

And of course, the grapes.

This event comes only once a year, and people really come out for this.  By the time we left, perhaps around 1pm or 2pm, there was a long line to get in, and a lot of cars parked on the grass on the side of the street.  Definitely a good idea to come early.