Terhune Orchards Vineyard & Winery: Full fall family fun
Terhune Orchards Vineyard & Winery: Full fall family fun
Trivia nights, wine and flower arranging, “Sunset Sips & Sounds,” a Winery Weekend Music Series and Sangria Weekends are just part of the lineup at Terhune Orchards Vineyard & Winery.
“There are events all year long inside and outside. Enjoy seasonal specials – in the summer, wine slush and sangria, and hot mulled wine in winter, along with tasting flights all year,” said Tannwen Mount, who co-owns and co-manages the winery with her sister Reuwei Hanewald.
The winery makes three varieties of wine from fruit picked from their acres of apple trees: Apple Wine, Harvest Blues and Just Peachy. Visitors can sit in their scenic 100-year-old historic apple orchard and sip their wine, sample wine flights or enjoy light fare.
Guests can experience the family-run farm at Terhune Orchards, a 250-acre farm in Princeton, NJ, that also sells flowers, assorted vegetables and fruits. They also have on-site bakery and U-pick options for crops. Children can visit the barnyard animals – the goats, bunnies and chickens – and play on the tractor play area.
Nine acres are planted in grapevines. The winery produces 18 varieties made from their own fruit or vineyard-grown grapes.
Terhune Orchards Vineyard & Winery is a member of the Garden State Wine Growers Association and participates in the wine trails organized by the association.
Establishing a vineyard was Tannwen’s brainchild. She had lived in San Francisco for six years. “When I returned back from California in 2003, we bought an additional farm, the Johnson Farm, that allowed us to have a different spoke to this wheel,” she said. “It’s been a great expansion to this operation. It allowed us to have a new part to the farm. We welcome back children who grew up and were no longer interested in farm animals that come back for the winery. It pulled in a new customer base of young people. We have farm fresh products year-round. It’s a win all around.”
They planted their first vines in 2005, and began bottling onsite in 2010. Their wines are estate wines, and only available at the winery, on site in the farm store that is open seven days a week year-round or at a farmers market in Trenton, NJ, that they attend four days a week.
“We do everything direct to our customers and welcome people all year round to visit the farm,” Tannwen said.
“We produce lots of cider,” she added. “We have the only special atmosphere-controlled apple storage in New Jersey.” The storage building was erected in 2010, which she said “stabilizes the atmosphere to keep the apples firm, nice and crispy all year.”
The New Jersey climate has been kind and, in Tannwen’s experience, allows a solid growing season from planting to harvest for their Vidal Blanc, Cabernet, Chambourcin, Cabernet, Traminette and other varietals.
Are there any challenges to growing grapes? “Grapes are not an easy crop [but] we’re farmers and used to tackling challenges,” Tannwen said. They experience the usual ranges of pests, but birds in particular have wanted “a bite” of their grapes.
“We tackle and combat them by netting the vineyard. We keep a close eye on the other things. But that’s not all that we grow – our berries are also in the same boat,” she said, and so they net them too to deter birds.
The last weekend in August was their last Sangria Weekend but wine tastings and other events continue year-round. Their family-run farm is also open all year.
“We welcome groups as well as families. It’s a unique venue to visit where you can experience farm activities in addition to the winery. It’s a great place to experience family farming,” Tannwen said.
Soon the pumpkins will be ready for picking. Fall Family Fun Weekends are on their calendar, as is a pie sampling weekend in November. Finding out which wines pair with which pies is important before Thanksgiving.
For more information, access terhuneorchards.com.
by Laura Rodley
