VOORHEES, NJ (CBS) – Located on 70 acres of preserved farmland in Voorhees, Saddlehill Winery and Vineyards is one of Camden County’s newest small businesses.
Bill Green is the owner.
“This is a real passion,” Green said.
The entrepreneur’s latest venture officially opened last month, and it’s a homecoming of sorts for Green.
“I grew up two and a half miles away,” Green said. ‘My wife grew up five miles away. We raised our family between Voorhees and Cherry Hill.”
In the tasting room, Carly Key is your guide to Saddlehill’s collection of 17 wines, all made on site.
The wine is aged in nearly 350 oak barrels in a temperature-controlled room, and two sparkling wines will debut this summer.
“The New Jersey wine industry doesn’t get any respect, it’s way better than people think,” Green said.
In the late 1700s, Green said, George Washington donated the acre to his personal guard, and it operated as the Stafford Family Farm for 200 years.
After the farm fell into disrepair, Green purchased it in 2021.
‘We rebuilt it. Everything, city sewer, city water, roads paved, fire hydrants, everything you would do to build a small town,” Green said.
It is not only a winery, but also a working farm. Alpacas, sheep and horses call it home.
Fruit and vegetables are also grown and used in farm-to-table cuisine. At the farm market you can find candles made from beeswax that comes from the beehives down the road.
“It feels like a really big hometown here when you walk in,” Key said.
Green hopes this oasis will become an important part of South Jersey.
“This is probably my family’s legacy,” Green said, “and hopefully it will last as long as the Staffords owned the farm.”
Nikki DeMentri
