Down & Derby Festival Highlights

The Down & Derby Festival was held last Saturday, May 4 at the Cooper River Park. This was the first of what may become an annual event. There were 10 New Jersey wineries represented, with a few winery owners and winemakers discussing live on stage. The wineries represented were: William Heritage Winery, White Horse Winery, Villari Vineyards, Sharrott Winery, Cedar Rose Vineyards, Bellview Winery, Tomasello Winery, Amalthea Cellars, Wagonhouse Winery and Auburn Road Vineyards. There were other luminaries, including radio hostess, Marilyn Russell, as well as other radio DJ’s and personalities. There were also some talks and advice about wagering on the Kentucky Derby (no betting here, however).

The event was very well-attended and I believe sold out by the day of the event. Live music was provided by Breaking Blonde. They provided solid covers to listen to while folks patiently waited in line to taste up to 30 one-half ounce pours. I must say, the lines of eager patrons could be a bit daunting. Truth is, the smart attendees who had previously tasted wines from each of the wineries represented decided to pick a wine to purchase and enjoy under a tented area and enjoy the endless parade of things to tease and please the senses.

My personal highlights for this event were:

• Finally getting to meet Lou Caracciolo, owner and winemaker at Amalthea Vineyards. Lou is an icon in New Jersey wines and I had communicated with him via email and text, but did not get the chance to do so in person while working on my book. Getting my hands on bottles of his Carme and Legends IV (both among my favorite reds in the state) was also a highlight.
• Talking with Marilyn Russell after her time on stage, introducing my wife to her, discussing the wines and the event. She was so gracious, even allowing my wife to take a couple of photos with Marilyn and me. She did all of this with the doubting security who did not want to allow this interaction (Marilyn waived them off and assured them she would gladly come out and interact with a fan and former interviewee for her podcast, Eat, Drink and Be Marilyn).
• Learning from Jack Tomasello, in an interview on stage, that they were the 68th winery in the country to become bonded. I knew they were the second in New Jersey, but that statement underlined the importance of New Jersey in the nation’s wine history!
• Enjoying a bottle of Auburn Road Winery’s White Bottle while listening to the music and the interviews on stage.
• My wife and I did get to sneak in a momentary short line to taste the offerings from Cedar Rose and briefly chat with winemaker and co-owner, Dustin Tarpine and his wife. Took home bottles of their Silica and Chardonnay.
• Listening to the great covers provided by Breaking Blonde.
• The food looked wonderful, though we had eaten lunch before we arrived and were not really hungry. We will have to check out La Scala soon. The food trucks did not have to travel far from their restaurant right down the road, also on the river.
• Enjoying the parade of people with some great costumes worn by some of the patrons. (See below).

The gentleman in red was the bugler for the start of the Kentucky Derby event. Im not sure about the other man, other than he was also resplendent in his attire and both were gracious enough to allow me to take this photo. Thanks, gentlemen! There were many other folks dressed for the red carpet, with women “dressed to the nines,” including women in hats that were fantastic (and others that I chose not to photograph, in keeping with the decorum of my blog (and my happy marriage).

My wife and I really enjoyed this event and with a few simple improvements it could be a truly great event, in my opinion. My only recommendations, should the participants choose to put on this event next year:

• Either move the action to a different part of the riverfront, allowing greater movement, or restrict the total number of attendees a bit more (the lines to sample wines were both long and cramped).
• Spread out the wineries a bit so there is room to maneuver between each line (and perhaps allow patrons on the sides to shorten the length of the lines).
• Either allow staff from the wineries to open the bottles or provide a better opener than those secured by rope and rendered nearly useless in this process.
• Give real glasses to patrons, instead of the small plastic shot glasses shown below.

Cheers!

Don’t forget: Saturday, May 18 and 19 is the Autumn Lake Bloom Festival in Williamstown. I will be selling and signing my book on Saturday from 12-2.

Can’t make it to that event, you can still buy my paperback, New Jersey Uncorked at store.bookbaby.com/book/New-Jersey-Uncorked You can still save $5 with the coupon code: May2019 or save $2 on the e-book only at Apple’s iBook App.

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