Visiting The Wagonhouse Winery

Last Thursday I had the chance to visit and talk the owners of The Wagonhouse Winery. I had the chance to taste some of their wine at the Waterfront Food and Wine Festival and was able to set up a visit where I could chat with owners. They have two labels, The Wagonhouse Winery & The Three Boys Brand, that they produce out of their establishment. The farm was out on NJ route 45 near Swedesboro and was surrounded by other large stretches of farmland, sporadic clusters of suburbs, and plenty of trees beginning to change color with the season. It was also a nice drive there despite the grey skies. When the weather gets cool, I roll down all the car windows and drive with the heat blowing on my feet everytime I’m traveling on back roads. It just helps me feel more connected with my surroundings, and the crisp fall air got me into a great mood for wine tasting. Parking was right by The Wagonhouse’s tasting room, which is located at the farm and is also right next to the owner’s home. The property was well maintained and had a tent behind the house for outside drinking too. Stepping inside brought you into a cozy rustic venue that felt very welcoming. Soft pop music playing on the tv added to the ambience of a very relaxed space. They even had a shuffle board table for some friendly competition while you drank. So with a bit of excitement, I pulled up a chair at the bar and inquired if one of the owners was free to talk for a bit. This was when I got to meet Heather Brown.

Q&A with Heather Brown

Dan and Heather Brown are the sole owners of The Wagonhouse Winery and do all the work that goes into making their delicious wine. I was able to steal some of Heather’s time that afternoon and ask her a few questions while sitting down in the tasting room.

When did you begin in the wine-making business?

So we started in 2004. And since then a lot of other wineries have opened up also.

It seems that it’s really started to boom in the area?

Yea, and I think a lot of it is that overall the wine industry has grown. More people are drinking wine than twenty or thirty years ago. It’s more a broad base versus a very narrow special event cocktail the way it was for so long. Now it’s more casual drinking, people like to come out and try the different wines and find a varietal they like. And farmers are looking to supplement their income. We have some farmers that grow the grapes, they plant the vines and then sell the grape. And then you have some that make the wine themselves.

What got you started and Why?

My husband’s background in farming. He grew up on a family farm in Minkleton, they have a 180-acres there. He got a degree in agronomy, which is study of plants and soil science,  from the University of Delaware. And for his day job, he works for the USDA and is a Natural Resource Conversationalist. So he works with big land owners for best practices to prevent soil erosion, irrigation, and things like that. Along the way, he decided we should get into wine-making.

How did you come up with your label?

There’s an old wagon house on the original farm in Minkleton, and our goal was at some point to create a tasting room that looked like an old traditional wagon house. We have not really done it yet, but ironically this farm dates back to 1850 and had a wagon house. The original wagon house was right here and we have pictures of them taking apart and putting up this building in the same location. And the three boys brand came from our three boys.

How big of a company/business are you?

It’s just my husband and I. We don’t have any other partners, we are the two owners, this is a LLC. Danny takes care of the vineyard, does the wine making, he literally touches every single bottle we sell.We have some people who help with the labeling now, but we are a very small somewhat antiquated in some ways in comparison to the other wineries. The tasting room is where I come in and oversee.

How many grapes do you have and do you bring in outside grapes or fruit for your wines ?

We actually have a list that has each grape, because we have quite a few. It shows where we have things planted and when. Also it shows where we get some of the other fruits. All our fruit is local to Gloucester county except the blueberries we get from Hammonton.

Not listed is their Barbera grapes which they began to grow in 2012

What’s your distribution like?

We sell out of the tasting room, we sell at the festivals, and we have three retail outlets: Rosie’s farm market, Grasso’s, and the Blue Plate restaurant. We sell through some local liquor stores too, but they tend to be difficult because they want you to reduce your prices which is hard for small businesses. Really most of our wines are sold in the tasting room and at festivals.

How has the industry grown here in SJ over the last decade?

It’s grown tremendously since we started our business. Auburn Road started about the same time we did. Heritage Farms started before us, but then after that others started popping up and they’re still popping up. I think when we joined the New Jersey Wine Grower’s Association we were 30 and now there’s 56. And that’s just in the last 10 years.

So we have the New Jersey Wine Grower’s Association and then we have South Jersey Tourism. So South Jersey Tourism has in effect become really important with promoting the wine trails, the notoriety, and they do publications, and really puts information out there.  They’re doing a good job of bringing people into the state which brings people into our tasting rooms and to the festivals.

How do you hope to grow?

Well we have a plan. We need to put up a separate building for production, because production is based on the other side of this wall (in the tasting room). So we have production back here, wine storage, my children’s little nitch, and my office. It’s too tight, we need more space. So we need a building for just production, and then at that point we need more space for entertaining. We have a big demand for private events, it’s usually for Saturdays & Sundays and those are our big selling days so we can’t.  So we’ll transform the back into private space for the events and it’ll look like the tasting room but with more tables. So we’ll have to just keep selling wine to get funding.

A snapshot of some their vines and greenhouses

After a pleasant conversation with Heather, I got to sample all of 20 of their currently available wines. They have a nice selection of traditional style wines under their Wagonhouse brand and with their three boys brand the wines are mix of fruits, and sometime veggies, to make some pretty unique tasting wines. On the traditional side of things, I really enjoyed their 1401 red blend (1401 is their address) which was a mix of merlot, cabernet franc, petite syrah, and I believe the barbera. It was on the lighter side and a little dry in the right type of ways. Definitely give it a go if you visit. Tasting the non-traditional wines was very different with all the variety it had. You go from tasting skittles with the Sweet Love to enjoying what must be liquid peach pie and honey with the Sundance. You could even get a mental image of Thanksgiving when you have a sip of their Autumn Goddess. One to note, because it was nothing like I tried before, was their Kick in a Glass. This particular wine is made from tomatoes (not a single grape mind you) and a mix of chili and cayenne. It’s essentially a wine bloody mary and it has got a great taste to it.

The produce stand where their sons sell their fruits and vegetables

    I completely blanked on snapping a picture of Heather and didn’t realize it til after I had taken all the photos, but I will get one up soon. In the meanwhile you can see more pictures, get news on events, and score some deals on the Wagonhouse Winery Facebook page. Overall the visit was quite nice. The wine was delicious and I really enjoyed the cozy ambience of the tasting room. This is a spot I’ll come back to again and definitely worth a visit for anyone looking to expand their wine selection.