Spend Valentine’s Day Weekend at a Local Winery for the Wine & Chocolate Wine Trail Weekend

Looking for a romantic weekend to make your Valentine’s Day celebration memorable? Then look no further than the Garden State Wine Growers Association’s (GSWGA) annual Wine & Chocolate Wine Trail Weekend, February 13-14 at participating wineries throughout New Jersey.

The trail features wine tastings and chocolate samplings from noon-5 p.m., showcasing the award-winning New Jersey wines being produced by the more than 40 wineries now operating throughout the state.  From Sussex County to the tip of Cape May, as part of this special Wine & Chocolate Wine Trail Weekend, wineries along the way will offer wine tastings, new releases, pairings, tours, live music and other entertainment, special food preparations and dinners.  Check with local wineries for times and pricing.

Activities range from picking your favorite wine and getting a picture of you and your sweetheart printed on a bottle of wine at Old York Cellars in Ringoes; sampling chocolates made by local chocolatiers at wineries like Bellview Winery in Landisville and Brook Hollow Winery in Columbia; a deluxe wine tasting paired with artisanal  cheeses and locally-made chocolates and a long-stemmed rose for your sweetheart and a winery tour at Beneduce Vineyards in Pittstown;  to a Wine Lovers Valentine’s Dinner at Tomasello Winery in Hammonton.

DiBella Winery in Woolwich Township will be offering free tastings, light snacks and chocolate pairings; Cedarvale Winery in Logan Township will be pairing wine with chocolate samples; Hopewell Valley Vineyards in Pennington will offer live entertainment, tastings and a number of jewelry vendors. 4 JGs in Colts Neck will have fine wines, artisan chocolates, and sinfully delicious brownies!  Plagido’s Winery in Hammonton will feature their popular lite fare, scrumptious snacks, and chocolate desserts and Working Dog Winery in East Windsor will have the Jersey Devil food truck on  Saturday the 13th with their delicious BBQ and, rumor has it they are bringing their chocolate covered bacon!  As part of the premium tasting, you can also wine from the barrel with the winemaker.

Visitors can also ask for the New Jersey Wine Passport at their stops or access the mobile app. They can bring the passport to participating wineries to be stamped. Those having all of the pages stamped, and thus having visited all the wineries in the state, will be eligible for a drawing for a trip for two to a major wine destination in the United States.

The free passports can be found in any NJ tasting room, or a mobile app version can be found by searching for “NJ Wine” on any smart phone app search.

No matter where in New Jersey you live, there is a winery nearby. For the full list of participating wineries, costs to attend, and details of the special offerings at each location, visit http://www.newjerseywines.com/events.

The GSWGA is a coalition of nearly 50 wineries and vineyards across New Jersey, dedicated to raising the quality and awareness of the New Jersey wine industry. For more information, visit www.newjerseywines.com.