Chestnut Run Farm

Our Story

Chestnut Run Farm is a small farm winery in beautiful Salem County, New Jersey. Bob and Lise Clark have owned and operated this farm since 1986. For many years we were growers and packers of specialty produce such as Asian pears, gourmet apple varieties, yellow tomatoes, purple, lilac, orange, yellow and red bell peppers, ornamental Indian corn. Our produce was featured in fine markets and restaurants all along the eastern seaboard.

Globalization of the produce industry made it difficult for a small family farm like ours to compete. Since Asian pears were our real specialty, we experimented with different value-added products and found we could make good wine from these fruit. Since 2006, all of the fruit grown here has been used to make Asian pear, Fuji apple and Japanese plum wines. Chestnut Run Farm uses only fruit grown right here on our own farm to produce these delicious wines.

Our Farm

Chestnut Run Farm is a 22 acre, permanently preserved farm located at the headwaters of Chestnut Run, from which the farm takes its name. This small stream runs along the farm’s North border, through nearby Woodstown to the Salem River and ultimately into Delaware Bay. This contributes to the ecological significance of this farm.

In 2001, we added this farm to the growing list of permanently preserved farms here in Salem County. In fact, most of the fields and woods in the area surrounding the farm are now also preserved. This preservation ensures that development will not take place here.

This assurance is especially important since the farm is an active breeding site for American Kestrels, North America’s smallest falcon. Great Horned Owls also rear their young here, and Bald Eagles are frequent visitors.

In addition to our Asian pear, Fuji apple and Japanese plum orchards, much of the farm is now grass pastures on which our sheep and lambs graze, as well as grass fields on which we produce the hay our sheep eat during winter months. This is ideal habitat for Kestrels and other birds.