Cold winter days and early sunsets have us thinking about cozy ways to spend time indoors. One idea is to indulge in a wine tasting or wine flight in New Jersey. Even though Hudson County is far from the wine-growing regions of Italy or France, there are a few awesome restaurants and shops nearby that offer a taste of the wine life. We’ve rounded up a list of nearby wine tastings and wine flights in Hoboken, Jersey City, and beyond for you to sip on.
Before diving in, it’s important to note the difference between a wine flight and a tasting — as well as why most wine shops can’t offer a wine flight but might be able to host a tasting. It all comes down to licenses. Wine shops usually have a retail license which means that they can only serve you a maximum of 2 oz per glass and they cannot charge you (which is what a public tasting is). Establishments that have bar licenses can not only serve you more but also charge you (which falls in line with flights).
Tastings
Cheese + Wine Hoboken | 720 Monroe Street, Hoboken
Cheese + Wine in Hoboken is a woman-owned business that offers a little bit of everything that you need for your perfect wine night, including weekly tastings. There are tastings every Friday from 5PM – 8PM, and on Saturdays, the tastings start at 12PM and end when the wines are done. It also has at least one themed wine tasting for the week. For example, themes can range from Spanish wine to French wine to rosé, and the list goes on. Cheese + Wine will feature a tasting of select wines and cheeses that they recommend for the season.
It also has a cheese and wine pairing club that’s essentially a tasting that you can do at home on your own time. For $70, you get two wines and about 1/2lb of two cheeses that pair well with the given wines. For the pairing club, Cheese + Wine strongly suggests that guests sign up in the store rather than online.
Read More: Hoboken + Jersey City Restaurants with Noteworthy Wine Lists
Divino Tasting | 38 Maiden Lane, Newark
Photo credit: @divino_divine
Divino Tasting is where to go for a more curated tasting experience. On every first and third Wednesday of the month, there are wine tastings for $25 per person. It also has guided wine tastings every Thursday for different wines in the Boisset Collection, led by a Boisset Wine ambassador. These classes also tend to be around $20 – $25 per person.
Jersey Wine + Spirits | 492 Jersey Avenue, Jersey City
Photo credit: @jerseywineandspirits
If you’re looking for wine tasting and/or wine classes in Downtown JC, then Jersey Wine and Spirits is the place to go. Every Friday between 5PM and 7:30PM, it has wine tastings for the public. Depending on if there’s a wine distributor sharing their product or if it’s the staff sharing some in-house favorites, you could be sampling anywhere from 2 to 4 new wines. These tastings are also based on themes like the wine region and the type of grape. Jersey Wine and Spirits also has biweekly wine classes on Eventbrite and on its website, but you’d have to pay about $30 for those.
Riverview Wine + Spirits | 43 Bowers Street, Jersey City
Photo credit: @riverviewwinejc
This woman-owned, Jersey City Heights gem is home to another set of weekly wine tastings. Every Friday from 6PM to 8PM, it features a wine tasting of some of its newer wines — or some staff favorites. These tastings are very casual and usually involve two to three wines to sample. Riverview is also a 15-minute walk to Cheese + Wine in Hoboken, so if you’re down for a walking wine tour, then this could be a great adventure.
Wine Flights
Amelia’s Bistro | 187 Warren Street, Jersey City
Located in between the Marin Boulevard and Essex Street Light Rail stops in Downtown Jersey City is Amelia’s Bistro, an American restaurant with multiple alcohol flight options. For $16, you can order a flight of four wines out of the eight potential wines for your flight. If you need a little help choosing which wines you want to try then the waiters are more than equipped to help you make your selection. If you aren’t a wine person (props to you for making it this far and not liking wine!), Amelia’s Bistro also offers $20 beer flights with 4 beers per flight.
Melovino Meadery | 2933 Vauxhall Road, Vauxhall
Photo credit: @melovino
For those who don’t know, mead (also known as ‘honey wine’) is a kind of alcohol made primarily from honey, yeast, and water. If you love mead or if you’re curious about it, then you should stop by Melovino and try one of its mead flights. For $15, you can get one of their sampler flights and try 4 of any of the meads they have in their selection.
See More: Your Guide to Wineries + Breweries Near Hoboken + Jersey City
Spuntino Wine Bar + Italian Tapas | 70 Kingsland Road, Clifton
Photo credit: @sputinowinebar
Spuntino has the most wine flight options out of all of the establishments on this list, so if you like to have your pick of the wine litter, then this might be the best choice for you. Sputino’s has three wine flight options for its happy hour, which is every Monday through Friday from 3PM – 6:30PM. They are called “Fields of Gold” (which focuses on golden wines like riesling and sauvignon blancs), “Old New World” (which is mostly about the reds like pinot noirs and cabernets), and “Time to Wine Down” (which has your rosés and all the wines you could have without food). Each of these flights is $14 and features three wines.
On the regular menu, Spuntino offers three completely different flights. These are: Wines of California for $16, World-Class Blends for $24, and Sangiovese tour (the grape that makes Chianti wine) for $20. All three of these flights also come with 3 wines. Spuntino does have specialty flights with a more exclusive wine selection that can range from $35-$45.
