Fiddleheads and Grape Escape make the perfect match.
By: Melissa Hayes
JAMESBURG When the owners of Fiddleheads Restaurant met the owner of Dayton’s wine school, The Grape Escape, it was a perfect match.
"He walked in one day, his friends had been here before and know us, and it was, ‘Hey you’re a BYOB and we make wine,’ " said Brian Blatz, co-owner of Fiddleheads.
Mr. Blatz said the restaurant is the perfect place for a wine school to introduce itself to the community and suggested that Grape Escape owner Thomas Nye set up a table one night.
On Sunday, the restaurant will host Dine with the Winemaker, from 5 to 8 p.m., a free event open to individuals dining at the restaurant. Mr. Nye will be on hand to speak about his South Brunswick wine school and about pairing wine with food.
The wine school is a 10-month program during which students attend four sessions.
"Basically, it’s like a playground for adults and people just come in and have fun," Mr. Nye said. "We invite our customers to come in for the four key steps of wine making, crushing, pressing, racking and then you bottle it and put custom labels on."
For just under $10 a bottle and a minimum 30 bottle order people can create their own wine over a 10-month period.
"Not only do you have fun doing it, but at the end, you end up with really good wine," Mr. Nye said.
Individuals can enroll in classes twice a year. In May, Chilean grapes are brought in and in September California grapes.
Mr. Nye will have an open house Sept. 15. That also will be the last day individuals can sign up for the fall session. He said the Fiddleheads event is a great place for people to ask questions about the school and wine in general.
"I’m going to sit down with people as they’re eating and really kind of introduce the idea of wine making, really answer any questions," he said.
For more information on The Grape Escape, visit www.gograpes.com.
To make a reservation call (732) 521-0878. For menus, visit www.jamesburg.net/Fiddleheads.