Back in my early days on the South Jersey Wine Trails, one of my favorite stops was Heritage Station. Back then it was a farmer’s market that also sold sweet and fruit wines. Wow, have times changed. Our favorite little farmer’s market/winery has now grown into quite the sensation - changing its name to William Heritage Winery and opening a second tasting room in downtown Haddonfield. But the Mullica Hill location was where it had all started for us and so, on a cloudy September afternoon we decided to pay a long overdue visit to William Heritage Winery. And yes, Domino the Winery Dog was along for the fun.
The first thing that struck me when we pulled into William Heritage Winery was the greatly expanded parking area that even had an attendant on duty. Upon walking up to the entrance we were greeted by a hostess who informed that we had our choice of outside seating. (one of the benefits of visiting wineries off-season) William Heritage has also added an outside wine bar and a water/ice station, making for a more convenient experience for us doggy parents. After securing a picnic table I went inside the chic, newly renovated tasting room to check out the wines. To my delight, not only has the wine selection grown by leaps and bounds, William Heritage now has four hard ciders too – Red, Jonomac, Golden Red and Stayman.
Since it included one hard cider, I opted for the Sweeter Side Flight for my tasting. First up was the Red Cider, which was made from apples and red grape skins. This was a pleasant semi-dry cider with a nice red wine finish. Next was my old favorite, Jersey White, a semi-sweet that Riesling fans will adore and yes, it’s even better than I remembered. Jersey Red was a perfect blend of semi-sweet and tartness. Jersey Peach was the surprise of the day, given that I’m not a huge fan of peach wines which tend to be overly sweet. However, William Heritage’s Jersey Peach was a nice light, easily drinkable fruit wine. Finally, because this is New Jersey, every winery has to have a blueberry wine and William Heritage’s Jersey Blue easily made my top three. It could even be number one, I would have to do a blind taste test to be sure. (maybe a topic for a future blog - what do you think readers?) William Heritage’s Jersey Blue was blueberry wine done right – not doused with sugar or syrupy in texture and truly refreshing.
After securing a bottle of Jersey White, I rejoined my husband and Domino just in time to enjoy the live music and give in to the temptations of the food trucks. By the end of our day at William Heritage Winery, one thing became apparent – next time we won’t wait so long between visits.
Check out my Youtube channel to see even more of William Heritage Winery: https://youtu.be/3ymPAwWX04A
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