My friends Patty and Jen thought we needed a day together. More specifically, we needed a day of wine tasting. And even more specific, we needed someone to be the designated driver.
Cue GoldStar and their awesome deals. For $85, (reg. $125) my friends and I hopped on a bus and toured 3 wineries in Hudson county with snacks, lunch, souvenir glasses and tastings included.
We met up in Times Square where we checked in with the wine bus crew and hopped aboard the short bus.
While we were still sober, we took some pics. Maybe these can be the “Before” pics…
Jen and her fiance James.
At about 10:45 am we arrived at the first winery. Warwick Winery. It’s a farmy type of place with lots of oak everywhere and just overall a great space for relaxing with a glass of wine… or 7.
We had several tastes of their whites, reds, brandies, and even one of their ciders.
But there is nothing like a little cheese and fruit to enhance the wine tasting… know what I mean?
I absolutely fell in love with their black dirt blush and purchased a bottle. It had a very fruity flavor and even tasted like a gummy bear! Refreshing and sweet. My kinda wine. Warwick was the great setting for buying a bottle, taking it to their picnic area, and snacking on fruit and cheese.
Soon after we hopped back on the bus and headed to Benmarl Winery where they were having a SANGRIA Festival!
With our tasting, we got a free wine glass along with 9 free tastings!
My cup will runneth over with sangria!
There were 5 different kinds of sangria. Berry. Spicy. Honey. tropical. Regular. It was amazing! My favorite, along with everyone elses at the festival was the tropical!
I loved the vines everywhere! It made for great photos!
Benmarl served us lunch. Burgers, sausages, chicken, etc. I opted for the sausage and peppers which came with a chick pea salad. Edible… but not incredible.
The scene was awesome as there was live music and a flamenco dancer. She was amazingly beautiful and talented. I could be wrong but I was pretty certain some of these guys are from the gypsy kings. Their voices made the hairs on my arm stand on end. Even though it was ridiculously humid, the vibes were totally awesome.
And the tropical sangria was totally kicking my ass. Thank goodness we ate!
Our final stop was to Brotherhood Winery, which is also Americas Oldest Winery! No kidding. We were offered a tour of the cellars first and I needed to sober up before the last leg of tasting…
The cellar was nice and cool. Here I am showing the tiny hole in a giant barrel that winemakers cleaned by making small children go inside and scrub it down… when I took this picture I was saying in a Chef (from south park) voice “Come here, chil’ren”
I am not allowed to drink anymore.
Just saying.
see? and I POSED for this one.
Look at all the free wine! someone get me a handtruck!
I found it amusing and kind of shocking to find out that people actually use the cellar for wedding receptions. The dingy, dark and damp cave for a wedding?
No.
Not me.
Maybe a haunting… but def not a wedding.
But you shouldn’t listen to me. I wear mardi gras beads on my forehead.
see? And I don’t even KNOW that ass hat in the back.
When the tour was over, we were escorted to a church.
…for the final tasting and éclair cake!
Things got seriously out of hand here guys. I had imbibed way too many glasses (maybe bottles) of wine… and while swirling and sniffing my pinot grigio I accidentally inhaled the wine… up my nose.
Yes. I was THAT girl.
Ever get wine up your nose?
Not pleasant.
Thankfully, no one got it on camera noticed.
I tasted an amazing peach sangria here at Brotherhood that they bottle and sell in their wine shop. Here, I did some major damage.
Why?
Because alcohol impairs your judgment. And because I had plans of continuing my drunkeness on the bus ride home.
The sangria sold at Brotherhood is probably the best bottled sangria I have ever had and it totally does the job! the good news is that if you visit the winery website, you can have your very own bottle of brotherhood sangria shipped to you!
amazing right?
And then we went home…
I cant wait to come back for my birthday! Im turning 25 again! yay!
You live the most amazing life. Fun events, good food, gorgeous friends. Please let me live it for one day lol. 10 minutes to straighten your hair seriously argh lol. In college I had an 8 o’clock class and would have to get up at 5:30 so I could straighten my hair (just to put it in a ponytail) haha. Glad you liked the goodies! I definitely think we should exchange baked goodies regularly. Since its cooling off outside I would have a heat stroke in the kitchen lol.
xo
LOL so funny you said that as this morning, i flat ironed my hair to put it in a pony tail. And im sitting here in my work attire kicking myself that i wore my awesome blacl wrap dress with platform peep toes YESTERDAY and not TODAY for FNO!
thought of you!
THE LITTLE WINE BUS SAYS THIS WAS HALARIOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS – OMG! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! WHEN YOU COMING ON THE BEER BUS???????? CANT WAIT TO HAVE YOU GUYS!!! ALL MY BEST TANIA!
Tania, that is an excellent question!!! I must rally up my peeps and get on that beer bus now that summer is here!