Wine Academy Now Open in Marlboro

The wine academy, a comprehensive liquor store with thousands of bottles to select from in its wine collection, has now moved into the Diamond Plaza in Marlboro.

The store has not celebrated its grand opening yet, but sent an e-mail to customers inviting them to come in and experience a "soft opening." It may not be fully stocked, but the store is ready to sell. It will even stock Warrior Wine, created by Marlboro Councilman Jeff Cantor, with proceeds benefiting Wounded Warriors.

The Wine Academy is a comprehensive wine and spirits store with locations in Hazlet and Lakewood, and now Marlboro.

Wine Academy , pressure free. Customers can pick up a Wine Academy card, which acts like a debit card for wine tasting machines. NJ law allows the store to have four bottles of wine for pouring open at a time, so the Wine Academy has set up tasting machines.

Customers can pick up a glass, choose four wines, swipe their free cards, taste, and walk away.

Perhaps the most fun part of Wine Academy is the free, weekly class. Every week, a different region or type of wine is featured. Customers can visit the "grotto" in the back of the store, taste several different types of wine, learn about how it is made, and walk away with new knowledge.

The Wine Academy also offers free weekly classes about beer. Beer classes are offered on Tuesdays from 5 to 8 p.m. and wine classes are offered Thursday from 5-8 p.m. The tastings repeat every hour in that time frame, and a weekly schedule can be find at the Wine Academy website.