Celebrating Wine with South Jersey's Finest

The Chambourcin grapes are hanging heavy on the vine.

Doing a little dancing on a Sunday afternoon.

Hot Sausage, Sweet Sausage, Peppers and Onions, Salad, Bread, Baked Ziti and all for $6!

Join me for some Vidal Blanc.

Sunday dawned just as beautiful as Saturday, and a trip to Shamong, NJ for the annual Valenzano Winery Winefest was in order. We had visited this winery on Mother's Day when we were one of only two couples there, but we found a totally different atmosphere today.

After a stop at the driving range for more practice with the irons and the driver, we headed through the beautiful wooded Pine Barrens to Shamong. We had to park a good distance away from the winery due to the huge crowd already present. Once inside, we found a tent full of arts and crafts for sale, lots of tempting food to chose from, wine to be tasted and purchased, of course, live music, beautiful antique cars, helicopter tours and carriage rides, vineyards to wander through, and every Italian-American in South Jersey. Dale was able to cast his new mini-series "The Falsettos" within less than an hour, and he hasn't even written the script yet.

We dined on a Grilled Shrimp Sandwich with Vinegar Slaw and Remoulade Sauce for me and a massive Italian Dinner Plate for Dale! He is still stuffed as I write this 6 hours later! A bottle of the surprisingly crisp and tasty Valenzano Vidal Blanc washed that all down. We wandered about the displays, listened to the music, did a little winetasting, ran into a friend from the ski club, and just enjoyed the people and pet watching opportunities on a gorgeous early fall afternoon. I had room left for a blackberry cabernet and wildberry gelato before we left, but Dale did not. Certainly the above photo tells you why.

We were home in time to watch the Phillies win yet another game over the Marlins and the Eagles fight to win a close one 15-6 over Pittsburgh. All of our teams were victorious this weekend!