Larry Sharrott
Sharrott Winery
Growing something worth coming back for
Ask Larry what keeps him interested in winemaking, and he comes back to the transformation. You grow the grapes, work through fermentation, give the wine time, and eventually share something that started in your own soil. After more than two decades, that process still holds his attention.
His family started Sharrott Winery in 2003. His parents, wife and two sons have all been part of the business, with the boys growing up alongside it. Over the years, other families have made the winery part of their lives, too, gathering for celebrations and returning to spend time together.
Keeping that experience going takes work visitors don’t always see. Larry says the April frost hit the vineyard hard, while finding people for farm work has become increasingly difficult. Changing drinking habits bring another challenge: continuing to connect with customers as their preferences shift.
Winemaking also requires planning years ahead. Larry explains that wines already aging help cushion the effect of a difficult growing season. Guests may still find a wine they love and enjoy the same welcome, even while the business feels the loss.
He keeps looking ahead to the next blend, the next release and the next opportunity to show someone what New Jersey wine can be. He’s especially interested in helping more people discover the state’s dry, European-style wines.
For visitors, that discovery can begin with a guided tasting and continue over lunch or dinner. Sharrott welcomes guests year-round, with live entertainment and views that change with the seasons. Larry has a soft spot for fall, but he also appreciates the quiet of winter and seeing the vines come back to life in spring.
His hope for the years ahead is steady improvement, with more people getting to know Sharrott and its neighboring wineries. In his view, every new connection helps South Jersey’s wine community grow.
We put years of work into what you taste here, and sharing it with you is what makes that work worthwhile. Come try something new, stay for a meal and enjoy the vineyard. Then get to know some of our neighboring wineries. There’s a lot happening in New Jersey wine, and we’d love for you to be part of its future.
Mario Caltabiano
MC Farms
A future his daughter can grow up in
When Mario talks about what he wants for the farm years from now, the answer is simple: crops back in full production and his daughter running around the place.
That picture matters during a season like this one. The April 21 freeze fell on his birthday, a detail he won’t forget. He describes devastating crop losses and the difficult reality that follows: the income disappears, but the bills keep arriving.
Mario doesn’t try to make that sound easy. He meets some of the harder questions with humor, but he’s clear about the amount of work it takes to keep a farm going, long before visitors arrive and after they head home.
His family has been farming for more than a century. He’s tried other jobs, yet he keeps coming back to the land. He likes seeing something through, beginning with the work in the cold months and continuing through growing, harvesting and cleaning up at the end of the year. He also values the close relationships in farming communities and the childhood a farm can give a family.
At MC Farms in Mullica Hill, welcoming visitors is part of how he’s working toward the future. In his interview, Mario described apple picking, vegetables, sunflowers and hayrides as ways to bring people onto the farm. After such a difficult season, creating reasons to visit takes both effort and imagination.
He hopes people take some of the experience home with them. Apples can become applesauce made together in the kitchen. Vegetables can be put away for winter. A visit can become a tradition children remember and eventually share with families of their own.
Buying directly also makes a practical difference. Mario explains that those purchases help support the farm’s operations and equipment, giving him more room to invest in what comes next.
He wants to keep growing food, welcome families back and give his daughter the chance to grow up with the same connection to farming that has stayed with him.
It’s been a hard year, and everyone who comes out helps. Bring your family, see what’s growing and take home what’s in season. Make applesauce together or freeze some vegetables for winter. When you buy directly from us, you help us put money back into the farm and keep working toward the next harvest. I want my daughter to grow up here, too.
Scott & Jules Donnini
Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery
Keeping a place at the table
Scott Donnini wants people to feel they can settle in at Auburn Road. Share a wood-fired pizza, spend time with friends and let someone take care of you for a while. That welcome is something he and Jules have worked to build alongside their vineyard in Pilesgrove.
Behind it is a farming operation facing a difficult 2026 season.
Scott describes frost damage followed by heavy rain, fruit losses and slow ripening. Deciding when to harvest means weighing the possibility of better fruit against the risk of losing more. Meanwhile, fuel, bottles, barrels and other supplies cost more, and finding enough farm workers remains a challenge.
Those pressures call for adjustments. Scott says Auburn Road has turned to other New Jersey growers, including farms in Cape May that were less affected, to help make up for reduced fruit production. He’s also conscious that customers are watching their own budgets, making decisions about pricing especially difficult.
After leaving a 15-year legal career for farming, Scott has spent more than two decades learning what each season asks of him. He remains interested in how a wine reflects the place it grew and the year it was made. Different growing conditions give each vintage its own character, and that variation is part of the work he values.
The connection with visitors matters just as much. In his interview, Scott described vineyard tours, harvest gatherings and wine-pairing dinners as opportunities to bring people closer to the farm. He especially values the neighbors who return for birthdays, anniversaries or simply a meal together.
Looking ahead, he wants small farms to remain a viable part of Salem County. Keeping land in agriculture means people need to be able to earn a living from it, and local support helps make that possible.
For Scott, the future he’s working toward includes room for another generation of farmers and a table where the community can keep gathering.
We know everyone has a lot on their minds. When you come here, we want you to settle in, share a meal and enjoy being together. Your visit also helps support the farming behind the experience. We want to keep this land working and keep welcoming our neighbors for years to come. Come get to know us and make this place part of your life.
Dave Specca
Specca Farms
Keeping the farm connected to its community
Dave Specca started working at Specca Farms when he was 13. His grandfather had started the farm decades earlier, and for Dave, farming has always been part of family life. It’s also a way to connect with local residents—and he’s glad to see more people interested in buying local.
This year brought a sharp reminder of how much the weather can change a season. April’s frost damaged the apple and peach crops. Dave says the farm harvested only about 5% of its usual apple crop. But the season also brought a strong harvest of corn and soybeans, and the sweet corn thrived in the heat. Adapting to those differences is part of farming.
Visitors may not see all the work that happens behind the scenes. Protecting crops from frost takes effort, and running a farm brings hours of paperwork and safety requirements. Meanwhile, the cost of essentials such as diesel and fertilizer has risen.
There’s plenty to discover in the fields. Visitors can pick tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, watermelon, cabbage, lettuce, celery and fennel, along with seasonal crops such as pumpkins. Cool-season vegetables—including broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes and leeks—can be available into December. A farmers market offers another way to shop.
Dave hopes visitors will try something unfamiliar. Kohlrabi, celery root, pimiento peppers and other specialty crops can introduce people to new flavors and give families something different to bring home. He also welcomes suggestions: customers sometimes bring seeds for crops they miss from their homelands, and the farm may grow them.
That exchange matters to Dave. Many first- and second-generation immigrant families visit to pick vegetables they grew up eating and preserve them for winter. He hopes Specca Farms can keep building those connections for years to come.
A farm visit also supports the local economy and helps keep farmland in the community. Dave encourages people to check the farm’s Facebook page before making a trip, since popular crops can sell out. And for a farm experience, you may not need to travel far—there may be a farm close to home.
Come see what’s growing, pick something you haven’t tried before, or stop by the farmers market. Check our Facebook page before you travel so you know what’s ready in the fields. We’d love to help you find a new favorite and get to know you.