We spent a beautiful day Saturday exploring yet another part of NJ we’re not familiar with – Hunterdon County. After an hour or so of browsing the outlet stores in Flemington, we headed north on 31 then west on 78 to the very edge (literally!) of NJ. At one point we were driving along a cliff 300 feet above the Delaware on a dirt road with no guard rail. I know my photographer friends are NOT happy that we forgot the camera. The view was spectacular! No need to travel to New England to see foliage this year. Western NJ and eastern PA were peaking today in the vibrant colors of fall.
There are over 30 wineries in New Jersey that are part of the Garden State Winegrowers Assoc. (http://www.newjerseywines.com/). I keep a printout of the addresses in the car whenever we’re travelling thru NJ. We found 2 in Hunterton County which are noteworthy. The village of Fineville in the town of Milford is located about as far west as you can go before crossing the river into PA. Within a mile or so of each other Alba Vineyard and Villa Milagro Vineyards offer both beautiful scenery and good wines. I found a 2006 Chamborcin an Villa Milagro that was just what I was looking for. So I came home with 4 bottles. Unfortunately Alba’s wines, all organically grown, seemed a bit off. However since they didn’t charge for the tasting, I felt obligated to buy a bottle of a merlot/cab blend. The saving grace of this vineyard was the drive. After a 3/4 of a mile drive from hiway 627, on a winding unpaved road, past corn fields and grapes, we came to the top of the hill where there is located a farm house, barn, silos, and tractors. It was this road which at times ran to the edge of the cliff, below which was a 300′ drop into the Delaware River. From here one can see Bucks County just on the other side of the river. The peace and quiet and solitude of the very relaxing. We’d have loved to have stayed there forever.
All in all, it was a great day to enjoy one of the many jewels of NJ, only an hour away from the aggrevatingly overpopulated metro area we reluctantly call home. When people ask where Metuchen is, I like to tell them Metuchen is not at the end of the world, but you can see it from there.
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