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VINEYARDS COME ALIVE AT ALLAIRE FOR NJ WINE FESTIVAL
By Keith Hagarty
 | | --Photos By Keith Hagarty The vino was flowing last weekend at Historic Allaire Village, where Craig Hosbach, of Four Sisters Winery in Belvidere, joined the state's 27 other wineries at the Jazz It Up Wine Festival, held by the Garden State Wine Growers Association. |
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From some of the sweetest Chablis and Ports to the driest Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots and bottles upon bottles of fruity blueberry, raspberry and apple spirits, His- toric Allaire Village welcomed nearly 10,000 people this past weekend for the statewide Jazz It Up Wine & Food Festival, hosted by the Garden State Wine Growers Association (GSWGA).
"We were thrilled. It went really great," said festival manager Kathy Bullock, of the GSWGA. "We had a wonderful turnout. It's a beautiful venue, and we had some great wine. It was just such a wonderful, wonderful weekend."
While the New Jersey Wine Festival has been an annual event for the last 15 years, this was the first time it was held the historic village in Allaire State Park.
"It was excellent, both in terms of attendance, which was terrific, and also in just the venue," Bullock said. "The venue is beautiful. We were very, very happy with the way everything turned out."
The GSWGA is a member organization of the 28 wineries located throughout New Jersey.
About 7,500 people participated in the two-day festival, according to Bullock, who estimated there were an additional 1,500 to 2,000 regular park-goers also attending the event as casual observers. Watching routine visitors to the park suddenly learn there was a wine festival going on and soon take part in the festivities was a proud moment for Bullock.
"Clearly, the majority of the people were there for the event and knew about it, of course, but there were quite a few people who said, 'gosh, we're already here at Allaire, let's just go in and see what it's like.'"
Bullock was also surprised to see a sizable number of campers from the adjacent Allaire campgrounds come out and enjoy the day.
"We had a lot of those folks who walked over to us from the camp sites," she said. "It was tremendous."
 | | (above) Mother and daughter, Meta Johnson and Allyson Rago, of Tomasello Winery in Hammonton, are all smiles as nearly 10,000 people poured into the festival. |
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As representatives from each winery kept the bottles flowing and the glasses filled, organizers were excited to show off all the top quality wines borne right in our own backyard.
"I think one of the biggest things we walked away from the weekend feeling was that we had our industry exposed to a
lot of people who have never experienced
New Jersey wines before," said Bullock. "We felt like we were creating an awful lot
of new fans, and that was huge for us, and that was a very important thing to have happen for us."
There was one element of New Jersey's wineries Bullock is confident each patron took home with them.
"How excellent they are," she said of the state's wine industry. "They're really top quality wines. They're just incredibly wonderful. Everything from fruit wines to your standards, Cabernets and Merlots, or Pinot Grigios. The New Jersey wine industry is very rich in not only the number of wineries, but also in the amount of wine we produce and the variety of wine we produce."
With cooperative sunny skies, warm weather and enthusiastic wine tasters as far as the eye can see, the day could not have gone any better, said Diana Ioanid, associate director of Historic Allaire Village.
"We were filled to capacity," said Ioanid. As the patrons swarmed into the park, Ioanid said it was a great chance to hand out a calendar of events, and let people know all of the other types of events, concerts and programs available at Allaire.
"People have been coming to Allaire for 50 years now," she said, "but to breathe new life into it, and have everyone coming in such droves, it really gave people the opportunity to see what we have to offer. It was just amazing."
"We're a non-profit museum, so any type of advertising is good," said Ioanid, "but to actually physically get people into our buildings was great, so that while they're outside enjoying the weather for this wine festival, they also can see what our historical museum does too."
The thousands of people coming to the park for the wine tasting festival were not unexpected, but the huge crowd certainly something new for the village.
"The event always draws a crowd, so it was not more than we were expecting, but it was certainly more than we've ever had at Allaire," said Ioanid.
With discussions currently in the works to bring the wine festival back to Allaire next year, the GSWGA is already looking forward to the opportunity.
"They were terrific," said Bullock. "You couldn't ask for a more welcoming and helpful group of people. They were tremendous."
There is an incredible amount of history for New Jersey's wineries, according to Bullock, who encourages anyone interested in learning about the 28 wineries to visit the GSWGA's Web site at: www. newjerseywines.com.
"We're doing a better job in getting the
word out about New Jersey's wine industry,
but we have a long way to go still," she said. "I find two things: after people get over the
initial surprise that there's actually wineries in New Jersey- which is often the first reaction by far- the second reaction when you tell them that there's actually 20-plus (wineries) is they're in awe that so many exist here."
While her duties kept her away from sampling any of the wines offered at the festival, Ioanid said watching the happy faces of all those who went by was extremely gratifying.
"It was the epitome of a perfect New Jersey Labor Day weekend," she said.
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