Bellview Winery Spring Fling

 

Last Sunday we finally had a sunny, beautiful day. My wife and I decided to spend a few hours in the fresh air and sunshine. Bellview Winery, located in Landisville, happened to be offering their Spring Fling celebration-just what the doctor ordered. They had live music, three food trucks, and several craft vendors. Needless to say, we also chose a couple bottles of wine to help celebrate. These days, when everyone is complaining about inflation, I want to share a few observations about prices at Bellview Winery. They have nine dry white, red, and rose wines for sale for under $20 and six of them award winners. I should add that there was no cover charge for entry to this event on Saturday or Sunday. Judging by the size of the crowd and the many happy faces we encountered, everyone was enjoying their time at Bellview Winery.

The Winery

Bellview Winery has been around since 2001. While Jim Quarella (owner) has “retired,” you will often see him on the grounds. David Gardner, winemaker, has been the winemaker for several years. The grounds are wonderful, farmland that has been in Jim’s family for over 100 years. You can sit at one of their many picnic tables or bring your own chair, if you prefer. Bellview offers some of the best festivals in the state (Seafood Festival, Irish Festival, Italian Festival, etc.). This winery and a few others in South Jersey, with lots of open space, frequent live music, and good, reasonably priced wines helped get us through the worst of the pandemic in a safe, but fun environment. As a grateful patron, I am glad that so little has changed, with so many reasons to revisit often.

The Music

Live music was provided by the Nancy Malcun Duo. Nancy did the vocals and played rhythm guitar, while her accompanist played lead guitar. Their music was a nice mellow acoustic blend of covers from Cat Stevens and Elton John to Fleetwood Mac and the Cranberries. Nancy has a very nice voice and the gentleman who accompanied her, played some nice riffs and complemented her well on stage.

Food

There were three food trucks including The Traveling Tomato, Keek’s Touch, and Humpty Dumplings. We opted for the dumplings, which were delicious and served with an ample portion of fries. Our six dumplings (only four when I took the photo) were mini cheese steaks, deep fried. I loved these dumplings and so did my wife. We will look for their truck in the future.

The Wine

For our white wine, I selected their 2019 Chardonnay, winner of a Silver Medal at the New Jersey Wine Competition. It is gently oaked, with apple and buttery notes.

For our red, I chose their 2020 Chambourcin, also a Silver Medal winner at the AWS Garden State Wine Challenge. It offered cherry and raspberry notes on the palate and a smooth, dry finish.

Face-Off #2

Turdo Vineyards 2020 Sangiovese vs 2021 Cecchi Chianti Classico

I know that Turdo Vineyards has been closed for several months now. However, I have been thinking of doing a series like this for a while and I wanted to feature the first two from Turdo while I still have a few bottles left in my cellar. For my Face-Off #1 I pitted Turdo’s Iconic Nero d’Avola against a highly rated Nero d’Avola from Sicily. This week, it’s one of my other favorite bottles from Turdo, their Sangiovese. I needed to find a highly rated Chianti to make the competition a fair one. I found one that seemed to fit the bill.

2021 Cecci Chianti Classico-A wonderful medium-bodied Chianti with a deep ruby color and robust black cherry notes. It was rated 91 by Wine Spectator and was #58 on their Top 100 Wines in 2023.

2020 Turdo Sangiovese-While many wine growers and winemakers in New Jersey agree that the 2020 vintage for red wines was “challenging”, this Sangiovese is everything you could wish for: a rich, Medium+ bodied Sangiovese, with a slightly deeper ruby color, even more robust cherry notes, and a distinctly smoother finish than the Cecchi. I loved both of these bottles, but I loved the Turdo Sangiovese even more.

New Jersey wines are still not getting the attention they deserve, but that’s starting to change. A recent article in Decanter Magazine selected 10 New Jersey wines to try now.

Coming Attractions

• Va La Vineyards-In Avondale PA. Finally getting to go there. Reservations for Friday at Noon.
• Springtime at Old York Cellars
• Another NJ Wine of the Week
• Face-Off #3

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