Westfall Winery is Apple-icious...and then some

Westfall Winery became one of my favorite places when I first traveled to the area a few years ago.  Nestled in the hills of northwestern New Jersey, Westfall Farm is a beaucolic gem with a rich history dating back to the colonial era.  Lumber, produce, dairy and horses each acted as the mainstay of the farm at one time or another until 2000 when wine was introduced to the grounds.

While I will happily taste anything, fruit wines are my personal fave.  Westfall's Apple Cinnamon Wine is no exception.  While I've tasted several great apple wines (Valenzano comes readily to mind) Westfall's 100% apple blend makes a unique mark on the palate with its cinnamon flavor.  A mouth-watering perfume escapes the minute you pull the cork and lingers on the tongue for a sweet and tangy finish. 

When chilled, the apple essence fleshes out on your tongue as if you just took a bite from your fresh pick-your-own stash.  Served warm, the flavor ushers in the memory of that first autumnal chill in the air as the wine becomes a nectar with sweet and tart nodes.  No matter how you serve it, Westfall's Apple Cinnamon brings back fond memories of blissful autumn days spend breathing in fresh, crisp air and jumping on piles of colorful leaves.

Plan on bringing a picnic with you when you visit Westfall.  There is a wide variety of award-winning wines from the standard merlots and pinots to the Country Wines that highlight the fruit flavors of the region.  Reasonably priced, Westfall Winery is the highlight of the Sussex Wine Trail.

And, if you're lucky, they'll have some of their Chocolate Orange Port -- not listed on their website, but an amazingly dark and powerful dessert find when I visited in the late summer of 2010.