Arts and crafts in Shore towns, and festivals up north.

At the grand opening last week of Stew Leonard’s Wines just off Route 3 in Clifton, there was a large crowd, local cops directing parking lot traffic, and a security staff worthy of a rock concert.

Gary's Wine (and much more)
New Jersey’s largest wine market has opened. Gary’s Wine & Marketplace, 1308 Route 23 North, Wayne (973-633-3900), has 24,000 square feet for you to browse.

Before I write anything about Gary Vaynerchuk, I need to send you to winelibrarytv.com. There's nothing I can put here that would capture him the way any of his daily ten-minute web videos do. In each one, he uses a gonzo-journalism approach to convey his latest feelings about wine—doing tasting showdowns and going off on tangents about everything from his beloved Jets to the WWF battles of his youth. It's as fun as you could imagine an intellectual wine discussion can be. And now that energy is focused in print, in the pages of Vaynerchuk's new book, 101 Wines to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World.

Maybe you’ve seen them driving on Rt. 78. A billboard advertising Gary’s wines. Then a mile later another billboard with “Gary” and “wine.” Different guys, though.