Covered Wagon Tours: Wine for Your Horses

Auburn Road Vineyards, Cowtown Rodeo, and Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters team up to introduce Covered Wagon Tours. Experience the grapevines and horse pastures of South Jersey!

Your Covered Wagon Tour will start at The Enoteca, Auburn Road Vineyards’ European-style wine bar and outdoor café nestled in—and amongst—the vines. As you take your seat on the wagon and we pour you a glass of wine, your guide will tell you that “Everything we do here is Art”, from our gourmet wood-fired pizza and imported gelato to live original music by global artists; from vibrant paintings splashing highlights of color to our wines that belong on the table with the best wines in the world.

And they’ll remind you that one of the things that make us just a little bit different is that Auburn Road Vineyards sits right in the heart of Cowtown Country. Cowtown Rodeo is the longest-running weekly rodeo in the entire United States and the chief purveyors of the slice of Americana that is our little corner of the Garden State.

“Once you hit the southern part of the state, there’s more cowboy there than one might think…” —Bruce Springsteen (from his autobiography Born to Run)

After a leisurely roll through the vineyards with a sip of wine or two, we’ll approach vast pastures covering the hills that surround Cowtown. Horses will gallop by while the cattle lazily graze.

Up ahead, we’ll see the rodeo in the distance off to the left readying for the burst of energy and excitement that is a Rodeo Saturday Night in the summer. We’ll then dismount for a stop at our halfway point: Cowtown Cowboy Outfitters. Browse the boots and maybe pick yourself up a custom cowboy hat. Come spring, Bull Hide Brewery next door will be open for tastings of local micro-brewed beer.

Then it’s back on the wagon for the return trip in time for a relaxing glass of wine and some wood-fired pizza before heading over to the rodeo for the big show—if you are lucky enough to score tickets. Or you can hang with us for some music under the stars …

And at the end of it all you might wonder: Were you just in Europe one minute and then in Wyoming the next? Or maybe you were actually in South Jersey this whole time?

And we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Fact is, what currently is Auburn Road Vineyards was, 20 years ago, a horse pasture. The Enoteca was once a stable. The tarred wood posts and even a yellow feed-bag tether are still there. We even have a hitching post outside for guests who ride up on horseback.

I have a theory: All other things being equal, every winery in the world would want to be situated right where we are. Why? Because while being a winemaker may be sexy, there is nothing cooler than being a cowboy… — Scott Donnini, Owner, Auburn Road Vineyards

AUBURN ROAD VINEYARDS & WINERY
117 Sharptown-Auburn Rd.
Pilesgrove, NJ 
www.auburnroadvineyards.com