A memorable dinner is a good reason to take a drive. At Crystal Springs Resort, pair it with scenic mountain views, an award-winning wine cellar, and time to unwind for a great NJ getaway.
At Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg, New Jersey, dining shares the itinerary with golf, spa treatments, and poolside relaxation. We checked into Grand Cascades Lodge to experience that combination, with a world-class dinner at Restaurant Latour as the centerpiece of our stay.
Overnight accommodations let us take our time—with wine, dinner, and coffee overlooking the hills the next morning. But first, we headed underground to explore the resort’s award-winning wine cellar.
The Wine Cellar at Crystal Springs Resort
Walking into the wine cellar at Crystal Springs feels like stepping into an old European estate. Rough stone walls curve overhead, forming vaulted passageways illuminated by warm pools of light. Arched, wood-trimmed windows offer glimpses into the collection beyond.
Spread across nine interconnected chambers, the cellar houses more than 50,000 bottles of wine, representing approximately 6,000 labels, with extensive collections from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône, Italy, and California. Its wine program has earned Wine Spectator’s Grand Award every year since 2006. Those numbers are impressive on paper, but walking through the cellar brings its extraordinary scale to life.
Then came an unexpected connection to New Jersey history. The late Gene Mulvihill, Crystal Springs’ founder and the man behind the wine collection, also founded Action Park. Yes, that Action Park. The legendary “Traction Park” and this refined underground cellar share the same entrepreneurial origin story.
Our tour continued into a tasting room with massive wooden tables, heavy upholstered chairs, and iron light fixtures. Arched viewing windows into the cellar complete a setting that feels straight out of Game of Thrones.
Here, we explored five wines, with some sensory detective work along the way. Games challenged us to identify scents associated with wine tasting. Recognizing something familiar and putting a name to it are, it turns out, two different skills.
The exercise made the tasting interactive and approachable. We were encouraged to pay attention, ask questions, and think about what was happening in the glass—a fitting introduction to dinner at Restaurant Latour. It turns out I don’t have the nose to be a sommelier.
Dining with a Mountain Backdrop
Restaurant Latour
Restaurant Latour gives you a reason to look up between courses. Broad windows frame wooded hills, and layered ridgelines took on soft blue tones the rainy evening we were there. White tablecloths, warm wood, and an illuminated ceiling of undulating fabric panels create a setting worthy of an unhurried dinner.
The service and hospitality made the evening feel special from the start. A server offered freshly sliced fruit and vegetables on a silver platter with our water, while maître d’ Johnny Contreras welcomed us warmly. Each course arrived with a polished, thoughtful explanation, and the sommelier’s guidance brought the wine pairings to life. The team’s attention to detail gave us plenty to appreciate beyond the plate.
Foraged Cocktails and Memorable Courses
Chef de Cuisine Matt Laurich and Resort Executive Chef Florian Wehrli bring the surrounding landscape to the plate through seasonal ingredients, local sourcing, and foraging.
Guests can choose a three-course menu with their own selections or a chef-selected seven-course tasting menu. We enjoyed the seven-course experience, letting the kitchen guide the evening.
Johnny Contreras, Latour’s maître d’ and a sommelier, introduced the cocktail menu’s connection to the surrounding landscape: each cocktail incorporates at least one ingredient foraged on the property, including native and invasive plants. A “Free Spirit” section offers nonalcoholic options.
Dinner brought an equally inventive approach. A Scotch-style quail egg wrapped in venison sausage arrived over spaghetti squash with macadamia nut crème and Bobolink seven-year-aged cheddar. Sunchoke velouté featured crispy sunchoke chips, chervil, and Marshallberg Ossetra caviar.
The wine pairings added another layer to the experience, with explanations that connected the wines’ character to the dishes. Those conversations, the changing view, and the succession of carefully presented plates made dinner an evening’s entertainment in itself.
For a closer look at the dishes, cocktails, and wine pairings, read our Restaurant Latour dining feature.
Staying at Grand Cascades Lodge
After a dinner like that, having a hotel room nearby is a very appealing part of the plan.
We stayed at Grand Cascades Lodge, the resort’s AAA Four Diamond hotel. With about 250 rooms and suites, it offers accommodations ranging from standard guest rooms to larger suites with kitchens, fireplaces, and private balconies or decks, depending on the category.
Our suite had room to settle in. A separate living area featured a stone fireplace, sofa, and leather armchair, with a dining table and cushioned banquette nearby. Warm wood furnishings, mustard-yellow accents, and contemporary lighting gave the space a mountain-lodge feel with a modern touch.
In the bedroom, a backlit wall of geometric wood blocks framed the bed. Through the window, we could see the furnished balcony and beautiful fall foliage.
The hotel’s public spaces carried that mountain character through substantial ceiling beams, stone details, leather seating, and greenery. The Biosphere offered a different kind of escape: a freeform pool winding around tropical plantings and rock formations beneath a soaring, light-filled enclosure.
There is plenty to build a longer stay around. Across Crystal Springs Resort, six golf courses, two spas, and 10 dining outlets, including seasonal venues, offer plenty to build a longer stay around. Grand Cascades is home to Reflections Spa and the Biosphere, while summer visitors can also enjoy the adjacent Vista 180° pool complex. Minerals Hotel, the resort’s second hotel, houses Elements Spa and its own pool facilities.
Crystal Springs Resort offers 90 holes across six public courses, including the acclaimed Irish links-style Ballyowen, which stretches across 250 acres. Three courses—Crystal Springs, Wild Turkey, and the nine-hole Cascades—are right on the Grand Cascades Lodge property, making it easy to fit a round around dinner reservations.
Breakfast with a View
The next morning brought another reason to linger: breakfast at Crystal Tavern.
With warm woodwork surrounding us and autumn beginning to color the hills outside our window, it was a lovely setting for coffee and a leisurely meal.
We tried the shakshouka, served in a small skillet with sourdough toast for dipping, along with pastrami-smoked salmon with bagel and whipped cream cheese. Then there were the crispy breakfast potatoes—deeply golden and highly addictive. Even after the previous evening’s dinner, it was hard to resist them.
It was a fitting finish to a getaway built around taking our time: exploring the cellar, listening to the stories behind dinner, and enjoying a mountain setting that felt far removed from our everyday schedules.
Looking for your next delicious escape? Explore more of our favorite New Jersey getaways for great food and a change of scenery.
