NJ wine is recognized as a top producing region in the country. I’m surprised by the lack of HO member reviews on any operating winery locations.
Most offer free full day events, weekend wine tours and live entertainment, food truck or their own menus, stunning grounds and private bookings. All at a very reasonable price.
One such locale winery, Fox Hollow, offers nearly a year round experience to relax under the stars. With live music, a glass of wine and a nibble every wknd and a quieter experience during the week.
Ever been?
What’s your favorite NJ winery?
With Fall around the corner, visiting wineries calls me.
I’m a fan of Fox Hollow on a Summer’s Night and when they have music The only thing I can drink of theirs is the frozen rose’
I did some marketing for Tomisello in the Wemrock Orchard location absolutely hated everything about that product just undrinkable. The almond wine was good on ice cream . I also tried a winery Valenzano (?) pretty much all offerings were not to my liking
Went to a big NJ wine festival in Chester bought the unlimited tasting glass and with at least 10 wineries represented we found nothing to our liking
FYI I am not a wine snob and drink mostly in the $ 15-30 bottle range
All my experiences with NJ have been mediocre at best
No kidding. That’s not what I was expecting at all.
Fox Hollows top sellers are the frozen wines. They make a decent ham and cheese panini too. My wife and I go for lunch when she’s off. We’ve attended dozens of live shows there and it’s close to home so my highlighting that winery is because I have the most attendance experience there.
But given the number of statewide wineries and the industry wide accolades, I thought for sure HO’s would have more and more positive experiences to share.
I’ll make my way through a short list this Fall. I enjoy driving to beautiful areas of NJ during fall weather.
I had a similar experience at a big NJ winery festival years ago and don’t think I’ve had a sip of NJ wine since.
That said, I’m sure the ambiance and music can make for a fun night. I know a few musicians who have played there, but I don’t need to venture far out of AP for music!
Ok so far, it looks like a very small and unsuccessful reception for NJ wine festivals from NJ residents. So interesting.
I’ll be exploring a few wineries and stay away from large fests. Same with CT and Long Island where the folks I know there speak highly of their local wines.
As for live music, NJ has countless options. Just a nice bonus at a winery.
About 12 years ago I went to a beautiful winery near Atlantic City. Renault I believe was the name. Magnificent looking place like a French Chateau.
They had big plans for the place and was impressive as hell. Took a tour and a tasting room experience with 10-12 people. We all were incredibly turned off by the wines and greatly disappointed because we thought we had stumbled onto something special.Just FYI. https://renaultwinery.com/
I’m certainly not going to make a current judgement on a place I was at over a decade ago. Please let me know if you go there. It does seem like its beautiful.
I went to Renault even longer ago than Ragtopssk – about 35 years ago. I remember them making a point about their wine being served at JFK inauguration (hopefully I have the right place!). I didn’t like the wine, though I had moved from Northern California about a year earlier, so I may have been biased…
Fox Hollow is about 10 minutes from my home and it is indeed a beautiful place in the right season – e.g. October when the Fall colors are on the trees in Holmdel Park (Ramanessin section) – which is what you see when you look to the East behind the band. I haven’t been since October last year, and honestly I don’t remember the wine being particularly good (though certainly it wasn’t bad) – I remember the ambiance and music.
To me in case anyone cares, is the ambience of late afternoons and early evenings. Also no kids is a big plus and dogs are always welcome.
They book interesting music there too.
Funny enough I posted about Fox Hollow originally stating the highlights. So we can agree in part. You might consider giving the wine and menu a 2nd chance (link provided above) since they both change periodically. I can’t speak volumes on any NJ winery but I do enjoy going. Never left disappointed or bothered.
Since work and family brings me to CA often enough, I have enjoyed wines produced there. But I’m not a fancy character about food or drink just enjoying the opportunity.
Tried Fox Hollow wines at a tasting last month at his huge nursery on rte 34
I was with 4 others and we tasted all the offerings, no one asked for more or bought anything. Terrible wine in my opinion.
If I do go to Fox Hollow as I am always nearby I’ll take a look at the menu.
Not a big panini fan.
So the biggest change on the menu is the addition of pizza. Since it’s basically walking distance from my place and it’s just a few minutes from Bell Works where my gym is located I will probably drop in around Labor Day weekend to see what’s up
