GRAPE ESCAPE: Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes, New Jersey
Unionville Vineyards held its End of Summer BBQ on Sunday, Aug. 23, drawing a crowd to an event that featured a selection of barbecue, chicken drumsticks, burgers and hot dogs from Uncle Eddie's Touch of Sauce and music throughout the afternoon by Michael Montemurro.
It’s one of a number of weekend events that the Ringoes, New Jersey, producer featured this year, which included the:
Wrapping up the summer/early fall will be Grilled Cheese Saturday on Saturday, Sept. 12, and the Harvest Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 3. Both will run from noon to 5 p.m.
The winery is located at 9 Rocktown Road, in Hunterdon County, about a 10-minute ride from the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge. It’s open noon to 5 p.m. daily.
One of New Jersey’s oldest wineries, the vineyard was planted in 1987-88 and the tasting room opened on April 1, 1993. It farms several vineyards, spread across three of New Jersey’s counties. The two most prominent are its Amwell Ridge Vineyard — where it grows many of its Rhone varieties such as Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Syrah and Counoise — and Pheasant Hill Vineyards, which features two plots — the one is devoted to Chardonnay, its flagship white, while the other includes four different clones of Pinot Noir, as well as the Rhone varieties Mourvedre, Syrah, and Viognier. The latter two grapes are co-fermented in a classic Cote-Rotie style to produce its single-vineyard Pheasant Hill Vineyard Syrah.
There is inside seating in the tasting room and in a second room accessible from the back patio. Picnic tables are scattered across the property.
As mentioned, the Chardonnay has gotten high marks in a number of competitions, as has Unionville’s Bordeaux blends (Big O and Sourland Ridge Red). Its 2024 Marsanne Roussanne Reserve and 2024 Silver Lining Cabernet Franc both showed quite well at the recent East Coast Winemakers Summit on Aug. 4. in Maryland.