If you love blueberry pie, attempt to sneak the last of the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving dinner or have an obsession with raspberry jam, keep reading.
A few weeks back one of our reps came by the shop with a unique offering. He had with him a gentleman from New Jersey who was pitching his fruity wines. New Jersey is a rare bird in the wine world as is. But this was also not the typical grape-based wines we all know and love. These were wines made from blueberries, raspberries, bing cherries and cranberries. My colleague and I took one look at the wines as they emerged from their cooler and nearly sent the duo packing. After all, we buy wines for a FINE wines shop and pride ourselves on our unique, quality selections.
That said, we are professionals first and foremost. So we let the pair of salesmen know we would taste the wines, but gently aired our concerns too. (Best to have low expectations and remain non-committal in these sorts of situations.) The wines were poured. The wines were sampled. And the wines won us over. We brought in a sample case (4 of each) of the wines we tasted. Can you imagine? I'm still surprised! But since I'm also a lover of a great martini and can appreciate the myriad benefits alcohol contributes when creating gorgeous sauces and other fare, I had to be an advocate for the Tomasello selections.
This winery also makes more typical wines though fewer of those wines have won any awards. Granted, New Jersey isn't well-known for their wines; but I did read recently Windows on the World sports a solid NJ cab on their wine list. Who knew?
Have you ever tried a fruit wine? How about wine from NJ?