South Jersey Locavore

One last reminder to vote in America’s Favorite Farmers Market contest. You can vote for any farmers market that has already registered, but I wanted to let you know that Collingswood (last year’s winning small market) is in third place this year, but a huge push from marketgoers could put them in the lead.

If everyone that reads this today voted, it could make a big difference. Please take a moment and vote.

To vote

I just returned from the Red, White & Blue Thrift Store in Berlin. It was my first trip there, and I was quite impressed with the store. I never used to shop at thrift stores, but since I’m trying to lessen my family’s environmental impact and I’m trying to save money, thrift stores have become a common place for me to shop.

I’ve got a whole list of reasons why I’ve come to appreciate thrift store shopping:

• I can get kitchen gadgets for cooking for amazing prices. Today, I picked up a hand immersion blender with all it’s attachments, still in the box, for $5.95. Now I’ll be able to puree soups right in the pot.
• When I save large amounts of money on everything from kitchen gadgets to clothes (both my boys got jeans today in great condition for under $5 a piece), I can afford to spend more money on local and organic foods.
• When I buy used, I prevent something new from being created and prevent new resources from being used up.
• Buying from thrift stores usually helps support a good cause. The Red, White & Blue Thrift Stores partner with the Vietnam Veterans of America.
• Expensive items that get rarely used can be found inexpensively at thrift stores. I got my son a pair of LL Bean snow pants today for $$4.95. They look like they’ve never been worn. They may have been worn once or twice, but since kids grow out of things so quickly, things like snow pants rarely get the chance to wear out.

I really liked the Red, White & Blue store. Unlike the Goodwill stores where boys and girls clothing is put together on the same racks, RW&B separates them and sorts by color and item. Even the plus size woman’s clothing is separated from the misses sizes – something that many thrift stores don’t do. The place was clean and didn’t have any overwhelming smells. The one big problem, and this actually is a problem, is that there are no fitting rooms and items can’t be returned. I didn’t buy any clothing for myself because I couldn’t try anything on.

Me (in a pair of sunglasses that are apparently totally wrong for my face) , Lisa and John at the Jersey Fresh Food & Wine Festival.

This past Saturday, armed with my palate, my camera, some cheese and bread, and what equated to a press pass to enter the fair grounds, I hopped into my car and headed to the Jersey Fresh Food & Wine Festival at Heritage Vineyards. This year, I did it right. I let the boys at home (and unfortunately my husband, too, he had other obligations). But don’t worry. I wasn’t alone. I met up with John and Lisa from Eating in South Jersey.

I arrived a little while before my friends so I took a lap around the fair grounds to get the lay of the land. I didn’t count how many wineries were represented, but there were supposed to be 26 of our state’s fine wineries in attendance. If there weren’t that many, it was close to it. There were a few changes from last year. There didn’t seem to be as much for the kids to do. There wasn’t a tent for speakers and seminars. This year the focus was mainly on the wine. There weren’t many Jersey Fresh foods represented – something I think the festival organizers might want to work on for next year. But, there was a lot of New Jersey wine, and let’s face it, that’s what most people were there to experience.

So let’s get on with it. What did I taste this year that impressed?

Debbie from Amalthea Cellars

I hit Amalthea Cellars before John and Lisa arrived because I knew they had recently been to the winery itself. I was taken through a tasting by the energetic and quite knowledgeable Debbie. She introduced me to the Europa IV, a “crazy good” red, and the Rkatsiteli, a crisp, fruity yet slightly smoky white. I went home with a bottle of the Rkatsiteli and served it that night with BBQ chicken – a good match. I didn’t think the Europa IV was a “crazy good” as Debbie, but I did think it was very good. I was more partial to the Europa III that winemaker Lou served to John, Lisa, and me when I stopped back at the table with them.  I also enjoyed Amalthea’s Sauvignon Blanc. It was missing the intense grassiness that some of the local Sauvignon Blanc’s have, and I liked that.

Once John and Lisa arrived, we made camp at a table and pulled out the foods we had brought to pair with the wines as we tasted them. They had stopped at a little cheese shop in Medford called The Carriage Trade Cheese Shoppe that had a selection of New Jersey cheeses as well as some great grilled sandwiches. I brought some cheese I had bought earlier that day at the Collingswood Farmers Market as well as some bread. We had a nice little spread going that we kept running back to with our wine glasses filled with about a 1/2 inch of wine. It was fun.

I usually take tons of photos, but I didn’t take that many at the festival. I did take quite a few notes, though. Here are the other wineries that I visited and their wines that I liked.

Auburn Road in Pilesgrove – Last year after I tasted Auburn Road’s wines I said that I wanted to make a trip to their winery and eatery. I only tasted a couple of their wines this year – it was near the end of the day and I needed to be careful – but I liked their White Bottle and their Pinot Grigio.

Bellview Winery in Landisville – I was surprised that I liked their $9.99 Jersey Devil White. Before I tasted it, I thought it was going to be one of the super sweet, inexpensive wines that people associate with NJ, but it was surprisingly not super sweet. For the price, it would be a fun summer party wine. I also liked their Traminette, a white that was dry and crisp. We also decided to try the Dandelion wine which tasted exactly like you’d think a Dandelion would. I wasn’t particularly fond of it, but it was fun to try.

Chestnut Run offers only four wines. Next year, I'll need to taste all of them.

Chestnut Run Farm in Pilesgrove – Lisa made sure we got to Chestnut Run to have a taste of their Dry Crisp Asian Pear Wine. You usually think of pear wine as a dessert wine, but this isn’t a sweet dessert wine. You can definitely taste the pear in it, but it’s  a nice, crisp white. Another nice surprise of the day.

Coda Rossa in Franklinville – I liked their spicy Chardonnay.

Hawk Haven Vineyards in Rio Grande – Lisa, John, and I wanted to make sure we made it to the tent of this new winery by the shore. We were really impressed with their Merlot (one of the more expensive wines we tasted on Saturday at $34.99 a bottle). I also liked their Cabernet Sauvignon and their Pinot Grigio.

Sharrott Winery in Blue Anchor – Since I was just at Sharrott a couple of months ago, I didn’t do a full tasting. I did take Lisa, John, and Chef E (tell you about her in a minute) over to their tent and had them try the Vidal Blanc that I love so much. Everyone was glad that I did.

It would have been nice to be able to go back on Sunday to get to some of the tents I wasn’t able to on Saturday, but that wasn’t possible.

A few other things worth mentioning.

• I had the pleasure of meeting Chef E of Cook Appeal, Partners in Wine Club, and the recently formed not-for-profit organization WAMPP.
• I mentioned on Tuesday’s blog that the owner of Cape May Winery had mentioned to me that these big wine festivals are becoming places for people to drink instead of places for people to taste. I certainly did notice quite a bit of that at this festival. As the afternoon wore on, it was obvious that some of the festival goers got rowdier and a bit ruder. As I was leaving, there was a group of twenty-somethings basically lying in a row of peach trees barely able to stand up screaming about getting back to their bus (thank goodness they had a bus driver). I suppose this is something I’m going to have to get used to if I continue to go to these festivals, but I will definitely seek out opportunities to attend smaller festivals and individual wineries where tasting is the most important reason for being there.
• There are still plenty of sweet red and white wines as well as super sweet fruit wines being made in New Jersey, and they were well represented at the festival. There are many people that enjoy those wines, and their enjoyment of them helps the wineries turn a profit and allows them to keep working on the wines that barely anyone realizes that New Jersey is beginning to produce – the really great red blends and the crisp, drinkable whites among others. From what I saw at the festival and those that I spoke to, I’m confident that our wines are going to continue to get better and people in the state and around the country will start to think differently of New Jersey’s wines very soon.