About five years ago, Dr. Bruce Morrison called his friend Art Reale in Florida with a proposition—how would he like to come north and purchase a beautiful winery in South Jersey?
Art thought it sounded like a great idea, and brought his friend and work associate Juan Fernandez (an architect) into the partnership. All three agreed to the investment and purchased Jessie Creek Vineyards, and proceeded to transform the property into the Inn At Jessie Creek Bed and Breakfast and The Jessie Creek Winery.
“This was Bruce’s dream, and although we had wine making knowledge, we were excited to learn how to care for the vines. Little did I know how challenging everything would be.” Reale remembered. “Learning how to care for the vines was a true learning experience, but we found out that our land is very special and perfect for grape growing.
“The house was in phenomenal shape, and converting it into a bed and breakfast was very easy,” he continued. “We then went to work on building the winery. This was quite a project and the building would need to be large.
“Thinking that this would be a great asset to Middle Township, we wanted to offer a facility for weddings on the property, and a banquet room for parties and other activities. So building the winery became quite a project, but we are very proud of how it all turned out.
“So here we are five years later, after many changes, and set-backs due to the state, and all of the “pending legislation” we are now offering our wine for sale and booking weddings and other celebrations.”
Reale also shared that they currently have five varieties of wine available for tasting and purchase. Right now they are offering a lovely Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot, a Chambourcin, a Pinot Grigio, and a bright Chardonnay. Tastings are available every day from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Jessie Creek Winery is now open for business, however, they will kick off their summer by celebrating with a Grand Opening in June. This party promises to launch what they hope will be a fabulous summer season filled with weekend music and barbecues and on-going tastings and celebrations.
There will be much to do there this summer, and everyone is invited. They still have available space and time for weddings and other special events, but dates are filling up fast.
So if getting married in a beautiful winery sounds appealing to you, make sure to call Jessie Creek Winery now, or you just might miss out on your date.
You will find the winery at 1 North Route 47 in Cape May Court House. For more information, call 609-526-2092.
Cape May County – I’d like to suggest to the Herald that they leverage spout offs draw and replace some of the ads for their paper with a few paid ads that you probably can charge a little extra for. Lots of people…
