A red wine flight at Iron Plow Winery's tasting room in Mount Holly, which will remain closed for now.
One needn't be a hardcore oenophile in order to thoroughly enjoy an outing at one of South Jersey’s wineries.
Even if you don’t know a Cabernet Franc from a Chambourcin, a Riesling from a Sauvignon Blanc, a tasting session with a knowledgeable vintner will get you up to speed in no time. Or you can simply sip what you like and take in the ambiance of the place — the music, the pleasant setting, the friendly people.
Some of the wine medals the Sharrott Winery won.
As frequent winery visitors will tell you, it’s more than just the wine — it’s the experience.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting business closures have hurt wineries, which have been limited to curbside take-out services and direct shipping for the past few months. So it’s good news for the industry that Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order last week to permit outdoor services at wineries beginning June 15, as one of the state’s steps toward reopening the economy.
The Iron Plow Vineyards tasting room in Mount Holly before the COVID-19 shutdown. Although the Mount Holly room will remain closed for now, wine lovers can visit the Iron Plow main site.
Now after months of struggling, winery owners are scrambling to ready their businesses for reopening with new rules.
"I’m happy, I’m excited and I’m scared — all at the same time," said Larry Sharrott, who with his wife Eileen are the owners of Sharrott Winery in Blue Anchor (near Winslow) off Route 73. "We basically had to figure out a way to retool our business in a week and a half."
The Sharrotts have been growing grapes for wine since 2003, and they opened their first tasting room in 2008 on a lovely hilltop overlooking a valley of vineyards. Soon after, they added a party tent and visitors often packed picnic lunches and brought lawn chairs so they could hang around and enjoy a wine tasting or a bottle. Eventually, the Sharrotts brought in live music and food trucks.
Their reputation and customer base grew, so two years ago, they expanded with a state-of-the-art tasting room, a stage for local performers, an indoor and outdoor eating area and a kitchen serving salads, flatbread pizzas, cheese plates, gourmet sandwiches and sweet treats.
The coronavirus emergency, of course, hit their business hard. They were forced to lay off all of their part-time employees. But thanks to fairly steady curbside sales, they managed to keep their full-time staff.
"Thank God we have loyal customers," Sharrott said.
Under the governor’s order for a gradual reopening, social distancing and proper sanitation protocols will be in place. Also, masks will be required during interactions between staff and customers, and party size will be limited.
Sharrott’s plan for the June 15 reopening includes properly spaced tables on their outdoor patio and on the grass area surrounding their new, but currently unusable, tasting room. In keeping with the governor’s order, they’ll limit the number of customers by requiring reservations, and they’ll limit interactions by forgoing tastings for the time being and offering bottle or wine-by-the-glass sales only.
"Our overriding concern is to keep our staff safe and to keep our customers safe," he added.
Live music will come back, Sharrott said, but they’ll make sure to use a PA system, so performers aren’t too close to customers. They may go back to one of their former business practices and start offering tasting "flights" — small samples of wine in individual glasses — rather than traditional tastings that call for close, face-to-face interactions between staff and customers.
Sharrott also feels confident that his winery’s existing dishwashing system, utilizing a combination of hot water and bleach, and their "FDA-approved" peroxide cleaners for wiping down tables and other surfaces, will go a long way in preventing the spread of disease.
"What we’re really hoping is that, even with the reopening restrictions, we’ll be able to give our customers what we like to call the Sharrott experience," he said, adding that he’s quite proud of their friendly staff.
The folks at Iron Plow Vineyards, which opened in 2015 in Columbus, are clearly excited at the prospect of welcoming visitors again. The owners, Scott and Sara Shumway, even used the forced free time of the past few months to create a new open-air patio, something that will come in handy with the outdoor-only reopening restriction.
"June 15th is a Monday and we’re not usually open on Mondays, but we’re making an exception this time," said an exuberant Scott Shumway. "We’ll follow the governor’s protocols: outside seating only, space between tables, no parties over eight people," he said. "We won’t be taking reservations, just walk-ins."
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Shumway is grateful for the curbside pick-up business of the past few months, considering his quaint winery is located in a rural area. "Some of our regular customers supported us during the time we were closed. Thankfully, it was enough to keep us going, but we definitely lost a lot of business."
In addition to creating more patio space, Iron Plow converted a regular window into a service window for ease of ordering from the outside. "We’re also providing porta-johns and sanitizing stations for hand-washing. We’ll provide wine glasses, but customers are free to use plastic cups as an alternative. They can bring their own chairs if they want to. We’re trying to make people feel as safe as possible during their visit."
Iron Plow also plans to offer table tastings and live music once they’re up and running again next week. "We are so excited," Shumway said, adding that they’ve been bottling wine nonstop during the shutdown, so supplies will be plentiful. "The customers are our friends and we miss them. We want to see their faces and we want to catch up."
According to a statement released by the Garden State Wine Growers Association, state guidelines regarding the June 15th reopening stipulate that guests entering a winery tasting room for a takeout purchase or to visit a restroom will be required to wear a face covering, which can be taken off while seated or tasting wine. Also, since each winery will be able to establish its own policies regarding schedules, tastings, etc., visitors are encouraged to check social media pages or websites for specific information on their favorite wineries.
"We are thrilled to be able to welcome guests back to our member wineries starting June 15 where they can take their mind off the problems of the day and unwind with a glass of wine with friends and loved ones in a safe and beautiful environment," said Tom Cosentino, executive director of the Garden State Wine Growers Association.
