Bellview Winery’s 25th Anniversary

Bellview Winery is located in Landisville. On Saturday, they celebrated their 25th anniversary as a winery. My wife and I have been visiting their winery for around 20 of those years. The land had been a family farm for three generations, prior to opening the winery. Jim Quarella and his wife, Nancy, raised their family here and it has truly been a family business. Their anniversary celebration included live music, five food trucks, and a brand new wine-Argento, made just for this celebration. What a great kick off for their commemorative party!

The Food

Two of the food trucks were not specializing in food, per se. One offered coffee drinks, the other offered snow cones, We were definitely looking for something heartier. But we had three choices in this category: burgers, Not Your Mama’s Tacos, or Humpty Dumplings. We opted to share the Six Dumplings and Fries Combo from Humpty Dumplings (pictured below).

They were great and there were so many fries, we could not eat them all. The dumplings were small, but very filling.

The Wine

I had to try the new anniversary wine, the Argento, and added a bottle of Chardonnay.

Bellview Winery Argento-This was a terrific red blend of Cab Franc, San Marco, Petit Verdot, Blaufrankisch, and Merlot. This is an excellent wine and my new favorite red from David Gardner, their winemaker. I had a chance to say hi and briefly talk to David about this wine. David said he was considering a Bordeaux-style red blend, but then thought about the great red grapes he could use to make a wine worthy of the event and thinking outside of the box, he came up with this one. A real winner!

Bellview Winery 2022 Chardonnay-Bellview has always made a good Chardonnay, but in my opinion, this vintage is their best yet. Lightly oaked, this estate grown Chardonnay offers ample notes of apple and has lively acidity. It recently won a Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco Chronicle 2025 Competition.

The Music

The Bo Rains Band entertained the crowd with their great mix of music. The group consists of four players. Bo Rains is a multi-talented singer songwriter, and producer. She provided the majority of the vocals and harmonizing, as well as playing rhythm (and occasionally lead) guitar. Bo has played with some big names like the Bacon Brothers, and Laura Hart. Her husband, Mitch Beer, is a fine bass player, who provided the bass notes seamlessly across genres, with great enthusiasm. Chris Ferrell played lead on most of the early pieces and sang many of the vocals. He plays incredible acoustic guitar, with amazing chops on finger-style and rock, as well-switching to an electric guitar at one point. Their fourth member in the group was Joanna Justice. She played percussion, though, when the group was warming up, she played a little guitar. Lots of talent. Bo mixes it up from one engagement to the next, as to choosing who she might collaborate with next.

Today their playlist included classics like “Son of a Preacher Man,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Steer it Up,” “Lean on Me,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Feet,” a Beatles tune or two, and my personal favorite, “Angel From Montgomery.” If you like Bonnie Raitt’s great version of this classic, you would definitely love this one.

Parting thoughts…

I plan on seeing Bo Rains again soon. And we definitely plan on visiting Bellview again over the summer-perhaps we’ll be able to make it to one of their great festivals. Jim and his family are such nice people and we love visiting Bellview Winery on the spur of the moment on a nice day. Their grounds are so pretty and inviting.

My Takeaways

I enjoyed the Argento so much, I decided to bring home a bottle. Below is a picture of my other wine swag from this terrific event.

Coming Attractions

• NJ Wine Potpourri #2
• Hawk Haven Rootstock Summer ’25
• Grill Night ’25 at Cape May Winery
• Unionville Vineyards Summer ’25

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