LANDISVILLE-- The New Jersey Wine Growers Association has set up wine trail weekends to promote New Jersey’s growing wine industry that is the fifth largest producer of wines in the nation. Jennifer Husko hops on the trail to take us to an Atlantic County winery to show us why you should savor the experience for yourself.

Thousands hit the trail this weekend for New Jersey's Walk in the Vineyard Wine Trail weekend. The wine trail is offered a few times a year, at 30 plus wineries across the state to highlight all that the Outer Coastal Plain has to offer. "It's very important for people to see where the product is coming from," said owner and operator of the Bellview Winery, Jim Quarella.

Here in Landisville, you will find the Bellview Winery, tucked away in the countryside. Owner Jim Quarella says he's been growing all his life on his family farm and left the vegetable business 9 years ago to pursue wine. "We grow our own grape, make all the wines here, so we have control from the beginning to the end."

People come to Bellview to tour the 35-acre vineyard to see the 20 varieties of grape still growing, learn about the unique wine making process and taste their 27 distinct wines. And Quarella says the wine trail weekend only helps promote the growing wine industry here in New Jersey. "People kind of shy away, like to say, why New Jersey, why New Jersey wine? Once they taste it they really enjoy it, it's all in the quality."

The New Jersey Wine Growers Association has a Passport to New Jersey's Wine Country so people can see what sets Jersey vino apart from the rest.

But what New Jersey's wineries offer is more than just award winning wines, they offer an experience close to home. “I grew up in New Jersey, never been on a wine trail, new to wining and I loved it," said Ann Marie Schmincke-Cook from Quakertown, PA.

"It's like a feeling of being part of it, because it's something they have here local, it's theirs and now they're sharing it with their friends that are really enjoying it," explained Quarella.

Another wine trail weekend will be held in November.

Click on the “links” section of our website to learn more about the Outer Coastal Plain and the Passport to New Jersey’s Wine Country.