Sipping Wine in the Summer Sun (August NJWineWithMe Post)

Article by Ashley Rowe, Blogger of www.njwinewithme.com

There are lots of NJ wine events taking place throughout the rest of the Summer, where you can sip some wine and relax in the sunshine. If you can't make it to a beach, this, to me, is the best alternative! Resting at the beach or wineries recharge my batteries.

The first weekend in August, you can get your seafood fix while sampling new wines. Unionville Vineyards (their site) in Ringoes is hosting their 4th Annual Sunset Lobster Bake on August 1st. Sink your teeth into more seafood at Brook Hollow Winery (their site) in Columbia on August 2nd. If you're not into seafood, but still like to eat, enjoy food of the land at Cava Winery & Vineyard (their site) in Hamburg during their Wings & Wine Festival on August 2nd. Also taking place this weekend is the Two Bridges Wine Trail Summer Wine Trolley Tour. This trolley takes you to 8 South Jersey wineries. Laurita Winery (their site) in New Egypt will be featuring events all weekend long with Country Line Dancing on Saturday and an Irish Festival Weekend. Get your country and Irish jigs on, but be careful not to spill your wine!

The following weekend, on Saturday, August 9th, Renault Winery Resort & Golf (their site) presents Summer Chill Wine Festival and a Car Show Extravaganza. Twelve NJ wineries will be participating in the festival and sampling their latest vintages. You'll also have 3 different opportunities to stretch your actual legs and your wine legs during Yoga classes at Cream Ridge Winery (their site) on Friday and Four Sisters Winery (their site) and Plagido's Winery (their site) on Saturday. After you've stretched out your legs, you can use them for stomping during Four Sisters Winery's Barefoot Grape Stomping event on Sunday.

August 16th and 17th, enjoy more seafood and festivals and some art. On Thursday, August 14th, Valenzano Family Winery (their site) is featuring Corks & Canvas at the Vineyard with Paint-a-Treasure. This is a special night of painting and tasting. Let the wine be your inspiration and guide your paint brush! Then on Saturday, eat some more lobster at Cape May Winery & Vineyard's Summer Lobster Bake dinner. Next, eat some more at Bellview Winery's Seafood Festival (their site), which boasts cheese tasting and a raw bar. There are 2 more festivals you can check out this weekend, Demarest Farms Wine Festival in Hillsdale and Vintage North Jersey Wine & Food Festival in Belvidere.

On August 21st, ladies can enjoy a Girls Night Out at Sharrott Winery (their site). Follow up Girls Night with a walk through the vineyards on Saturday during Sharrott Winery's Harvest Walk in the Vineyard Tour that will teach you how grapes ripen, how grapes are harvested, and how wine is made. See the ripening grapes as you walk through. During this weekend, on Sunday, you have another chance to stomp some grapes at Renault Winery's 150th Anniversary & Grape Stomping Festival. Make sure your body is in grape stomping shape by attending Cedarvale Winery's Yoga in the Vineyard, beforehand.

In the last week of August, is the Jazz it Up Wine Festival in Allaire State Park / Historic Allaire Village. Be sure to head their early and leave before it ends as this event can get crowded. Other events taking place this weekend include Rollin' Rods American Car Show at Bellview Winery's (their site) and Natali Vineyards Labor Day Weekend Island Event in Cape May. Both of these events take place on Sunday, August 31.

The fun continues through harvest season in September and October. Check back with us here for more updates.