I had the privilege a couple of weeks ago of attending the filming of a new television show currently in production. Taste That Town will celebrate the tastes and sites unique to New Jersey. The first town that the show chose to “taste” was Cape May, and the cast and crew filmed that day on the Salt Marsh Safari and at Cape May Winery. I wasn’t there for the Salt Marsh Safari, but the whole gang got a lesson on the ecological importance of the marshes. Now that I know about the safari, I hope to get the boys there before the end of summer.
I did join them at the winery, and I got to be a fly on the wall when winemaker Darrn Hesingtonwhile took the hosts on an in depth tour of the 25 acre vineyard and winery in Cape May. He educated the group about the winery that bottles 20,000 gallons of wine a year – that’s 8,600 cases. Fifty percent of the grapes used for their wines are grown in their own vineyards, 40 percent come from other New Jersey growers, and 10 percent comes from out of state.
Winemaker Darren Hesington extracts Syrah from a barrel for us to taste.
We were shown the barrel room and the tank room. I got my first taste of wine directly from the barrel – that was fun. It was Cape May’s Syrah, and it was interesting because all the flavors in the young, barreled wine were very distinct. We then got the chance to taste the Syrah that had been moved to the tanks. This wine had been aging in the tanks for a few months, and it had more balance. Finally, in the tasting room, the bottled Syrah was served. It was the first time I ever tasted a wine in all three stages of production, and it was amazing to experience the changes in a wine as it ages.
We also got to tour the bottling building, which is a small building that used to house the entire winery. Cape May uses an automated bottling and labeling process and still uses traditional cork stoppers. The question of cork vs screw top was brought up. We were told that since consumers like their cork, Cape May will continue to use cork. (I’ve still got George Tabor’s book To Cork or Not to Cork sitting on my night stand that is a very in depth look at the highly debated issue, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.)
Owner, Toby Craig (far right) talks to the hosts of Taste That Town as they are taken through a tasting.
Finally, we were taken to the new tasting room. While the hosts were taken through a full tasting, I had a chance to catch the ear of Cape May Winery’s owner Toby Craig. He has owned the winery since 2002 and has grown the winery a lot since taking over. We mostly talked about the new tasting room, but when I mentioned that I had tasted all of Cape May’s wines last year at the East Coast Food & Wine Festival, Toby told me something I found interesting.
He said that the East Coast Food & Wine Festival is a smaller festival than many of the Garden State Wine Growers Association Festivals because the larger festivals are becoming a place where many people go to drink, not necessarily to taste. So the East Coast Festival is limited to just a handful of wineries. I had this in mind last weekend when I was at the Jersey Fresh Food & Wine Festival, and I’ll comment on it tomorrow when I tell you all about the festival.
Okay, back to the Cape May Winery. I enjoyed my day at the winery and my backstage peak at both the winery and Taste That Town. I didn’t do the full tasting because it was at the end of the day, and I didn’t think I should go through a tasting and then hop right in my car and jump on the Parkway. Last year, when I did get a chance to taste their wines, I was particularly impressed with their Pinot Grigio, Victorian White, and Cabernet Franc.
The Cape May Winery is open for tastings from noon – 5pm daily with hours extended until 6pm from June – September. They have a beautiful outside deck that overlooks the vineyards. You can take a bottle of wine that you purchase in their store (or just a glass) and your own picnic lunch out to the patio or out on the lawn. They also sell gourmet cheese boxes in case you haven’t packed your own food. Maps are provided for self-guided tours of the vineyards. Tastings are $6 for 6 samples, and you get to keep your wine glass.
My friend Jill - one of the hosts of Taste That Town.
When the first episode of Taste That Town airs, I’ll be sure to inform you so you can get an in depth tour of Cape May Winery, too. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the beautiful hosts of Taste That Town is my friend Jill. I want to thank her for helping me hook up with the show’s cast and crew, and I want to thank Ryan Mayfield, executive producer, for inviting me to join them for the day. You can keep up to date with what is going on with production on Taste That Town’s Facebook page.
