If you’re subscribed to the GSWGA weekly newsletter (and if you’re not, you should be and can subscribe here), you may have noticed in the events section that many New Jersey wineries host special wine pairing dinners. If you’re curious about whether there is any benefit to attending one that goes beyond drinking some good wine and filling your belly with good food, let us satisfy that curiosity.
What is a Wine Pairing Dinner?
Red wine with beef. White wine with chicken and seafood. Does pairing get any more complex than that? It doesn’t have to, but it can. You can enjoy wine with your food by following those broad rules or following no rules at all. Drink what you like with the foods that you like and as long as the wine tastes good while drinking it with the food, you have a pairing that works.
Sometimes, though, a specific wine enhances a dish and vice versa—and when a discovery like that is made, it can totally transform your eating and drinking experience. At these special dinners, winemakers and chefs work closely together to create a menu where the wine and food sing together, giving guests an elevated culinary experience from appetizer to dessert.
At Tomasello Winery’s dinners, guests typically enjoy a four-course meal with wine pairings. One of the Hammonton winery’s dinners may look like this: You receive a sparkling wine to pair with light hors d’oeuvres as you arrive. After you sit down, you may enjoy two white wines with fish or crudo and three red wines with beef, rack of lamb, or a veal chop. To end the evening, your dessert is paired with ice wine, or perhaps one of the winery’s specialty cream wines.
“Before each course begins, there’s a brief discussion on how the flavors of the food pair with the wine and its weight,” says Charlie Tomasello, one of the winery’s owners. The discussion is led by the winemaker with additional input from the chef.
Rosenhayn’s Cedar Rose Vineyards hosts a variety of wine dinners for guests to attend including three- and four-course Prix Fixe dinners and Murder Mystery dinners. The winery also does smaller pairing events such as wine & cheese and wine & chocolate pairings as well as the super popular wine & ice cream pairing each July.
“We began incorporating food in 2021 and have steadily expanded our dinner offerings since then,” says Dustin Tarpine, one of Cedar Rose’s owners. “In 2025, we plan to host at least two to three wine pairing or dinner events each month at the winery. “
At the larger pairing dinners, Tarpine says the winery features a unique menu with each course paired with one of Cedar Rose’s wines, and tickets must be purchased in advance. Cedar Rose posts their menus online so guests can see in advance what they’ll be experiencing before they purchase a ticket.
“At every pairing event, we walk guests through the proper way to taste, the fundamentals of pairing wine with food, and share details and stories about the wines and Cedar Rose,” he says. “The format is casual and open, and I always encourage questions and conversation, which often leads us into a wide range of topics.”
The goal, aside from an enjoyable evening with good wine, food, and company, is for guests to leave at the end of the night with a better understanding of pairing wine with food which is a different experience than simply drinking wine.
“Wine is the liquid portion of the meal, the flavors of the wine marry with the food,” says Tomasello. “If you just drink the wine, you can’t get that experience.”
Tarpine feels similarly. “Our dinners give guests the chance to experience our wines in their proper context, paired with food that brings out their best qualities,” he says.
Since the food and wine pairings at these dinners are always thoughtfully planned out, you can count on the pairings always working together. Sometimes, though, certain pairings stand out more than others.
Tomasello recalls a pairing of crudo with the winery’s oaked Reserve Chardonnay as one of the most memorable. Tarpine speaks of maple-glazed carrots served at one of the winery’s Murder Mystery Dinners pairing beautifully with a 2021 Vidal Blanc. That’s something else you can learn at a pairing event—it’s not always about pairing wine with just the main course.
Attending a Wine Pairing Dinner at a New Jersey Winery
“When you attend a wine pairing dinner, you expand your wine food knowledge, slow down the pace of life, and enjoy the synergy of food and wine,” says Tomasello.
If that sounds like the way you want to spend an evening, you can discover wine pairing dinners on the events page of winery websites, including the websites of Tomasello Winery and Cedar Rose Vineyards. Not all wineries host them, but many do, maybe even your favorite one. These events are sometimes posted on a winery’s Facebook or Instagram page, too. You may also find information about them on the GSWGA calendar, and, of course, mentioned in the newsletter.
Check out a wine dinner, and discover what Tarpine calls “a new and interesting way to enjoy a night out” where you’ll be treated to a “properly prepared meal that’s both educational and genuinely delicious.”
