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By Anita Stratos - Greater Media Newspaper

Look to Garden State for fruit wines like few others

Lately, I find myself buying a lot of interesting non-grape-based fruit wines from various small vineyards (in Florida, Napa and even Vermont). Flavors I've tasted include blueberry, peach and even strawberry rhubarb. My fiancee and I really enjoy the change of pace in our wine drinking, and I find myself wondering: Are any particular companies or labels known for their fruit wines? Which is to say, any that I could get from my local store, and not have to risk transporting via suitcase from various trips cross-country. -- Eric, Byram Township

You seem to have forgotten you live in a place called the Garden State. New Jersey's wineries -- there are now about 30 of them, from Cape May to the Delaware Water Gap -- have worked hard to win respect for their grape wines, made from chardonnay, riesling, pinot noir and other so-called noble grape varieties. With a few exceptions, however, they have yet to attain the quality level of their counterparts in California and Europe.

But the state's fruit wines, including apple, blueberry, cranberry and a number of other flavors, are a different story. For years, New Jersey winemakers have been producing some of the best non-grape wines in the country.

"I have friends at different wineries in Oregon and California, and they don't make these kinds of wines out there. So I send them raspberry and blueberry wines, and they send me the cabs and pinots," said Gary Pavlis, a Rutgers University agricultural extension agent who advises New Jersey winemakers.

Fruit wines have grown increasingly popular, Pavlis said, because they are easy to appreciate, being sweet and relatively low in alcohol, and have some of the same health benefits of grape wines, thanks to the high levels of antioxidants in blueberries and some other types of fruit. And compared to tricky European grape varieties like cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir, fruit wines are easier to perfect.

"For the most part ... they more naturally and more easily show their characteristic flavors and aromas," Pavlis said. "A raspberry wine, even a poorly made one, will still taste like a raspberry wine."

One of the most dedicated producers of fruit wines is Tomasello Winery in Atlantic County. Among the state's largest and oldest wineries -- they've been at it since the repeal of Prohibition -- Tomasello also makes a wide selection of grape wines, including not one but three different chardonnays and a novel variety called Rkatsiteli, the most widely planted grape in parts of the former Soviet Union.

But Tomasello takes special pride in its fruit wines, including blackberry, raspberry, cranberry, blueberry and cherry. The Tomasellos have long-standing contracts with farmers they believe are growing the best fruit for winemaking purposes, and they employ modern equipment to process and vinify the fruit at the coldest possible temperatures, which they say results in the freshest flavors.

Over the years, Tomasello fruit wines have won medals in wine competitions from the Finger Lakes to Los Angeles. For more information, visit the winery's Web site: www.tomasellowinery.com.

Closer to home for you, Alba Vineyard, in Warren County, makes a delicious raspberry wine and an award-winning blueberry wine. Indeed, the blueberry wine was singled out as the state's finest fruit wine in the 2007 New Jersey Wine Competition. For more information, check out www.albavineyard.com.

A little further to the south, Amwell Valley Vineyard in Hunterdon County produces dessert-style wines from locally grown peaches and pears. Go to www.amwellvalleyvineyard.com for more information.

One other producer worth mentioning is Cream Ridge Winery in western Monmouth County, where the fruit wines outshine the grape wines, at least to The Nose's nose. One of the winery's signature labels is the Cream Ridge Cherry Wine, which won the 2005 New Jersey Governor's Cup. The winemaker describes it as cherry pie in a glass.

For more information about Cream Ridge, visit the winery's Web site at www.creamridgewinery.com.

A growing number of liquor stores throughout the state are making a point of stocking at least some New Jersey wines. But there's no better place to buy them than at the source.

Most of the state's wineries have tasting rooms with regular hours that offer samples free or for a nominal charge. Take it from The Nose -- it's a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The Garden State Wine Growers Association maintains a complete list of the state's wineries, including a locator map and Web sites and phone numbers for each, at www.newjerseywines.com.

I go down to Florida a couple of times a year to visit family, and I always like to bring a few special bottles of wine. I used to carry it on the plane with me, but that's no longer allowed. Last time I flew, I wrapped a bottle in my clothes. What a disaster! Everything in my suitcase was soaked with red wine. Can you offer any advice for people who want to travel with wine?
-- Scott, Union City

We're in luck.

I say "we" because The Nose has wrestled with the same problem. If you collect wine, or just happen to have a great bottle you want to enjoy while on vacation, it makes sense to travel with it.

Of course, since the notorious shoe bomber triggered tight restrictions on the amount of liquid you can carry on the plane, stuffing a couple of bottles of wine in your backpack is no longer an option.

I've tried burying a bottle deep in my check-in luggage, wrapped around two pair of shorts and three T-shirts, and while it didn't result in the kind of disaster you described, I was nervous the entire trip. And I never had the nerve to pack more than one bottle.

But where there's a will, there's a way. In this case, the way is a nifty new product called the BottleWise Duo, a kind of padded sleeping bag designed to protect two bottles of wine in your check-in luggage. Best of all, in the event of breakage, the bag has a water-tight liner, so you no longer have to worry about your seer-sucker pants coming out pink.

The BottleWise Duo is available in three colors for $48.95. For more information, or to place an order, visit www.bottlewise.com.

It's amazing how capitalism has a way of solving the problems government creates. (Or is it the other way around?)

The Nose appears in Savor every other Wednesday. Questions can be mailed to The Nose, 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, N.J. 07102-1200 or emailed to thenose@starledger.com.