No. 73

MAY 2019

AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY

PRICE $25

The Wines of

Wines of the Atlantic Seaboard: New Jersey

New Jersey’s New Wine Generation Top Rated Wines Winery Profiles

1 Table of Contents

Preface: The Transformation of East Coast Wine ...... Acknowledgements ...... Introduction ...... A Brief History ...... Growing Areas ...... The Vineyard ...... New Jersey’s New Generation ...... In the light of these developments, the International Wine Review (IWR) is publishing a series of reports in 2019 on The Wines ...... the wines of the Atlantic Seaboard. Prepared in collabo- Winery Profiles, Tasting Notes & Ratings ...... ration with the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association and local wine associations, each report in the series focuses on the wineries, winemakers, vineyards, the regulatory framework and future prospects of the industry in each state. The reports also include extensive tasting notes and ratings of the principal wineries in each state. The reports are based on extensive field research, tastings and inter- Preface: The views with local winemakers and industry leaders. Transformation of East This is the third in a series of reports on the wines of the East Coast, from North Carolina in the south to New Coast Wine Yorks’s Finger Lakes 800 miles to the north. The first report in the series, Wines of the Finger Lakes, was published in The wines of New Jersey and the Atlantic Seaboard are January 2019, and the second, The Wines of Maryland, on the rise. Noteworthy improvements in winemaking and was published in April 2019. The states included in the the unique styles of East Coast wines are attracting grow- series, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, ing numbers of open minded, wine enthusiasts. East Coast Virginia and North Carolina have about 20 thousand consumers are increasingly interested in drinking local acres of vines. These states and the regions within them wines, and liberalized wine laws and regulations make it differ in terms of , wine history, grape varieties easier for them to do so. Their thirst for good wine and for grown, and development path of the wine industry. learning more about the wines made in their own states However, they are in many respects more similar than is driving the dramatic growth in wine tourism and rising different. In this preface, we examine the similarities. The sales made through the tasting room. individual reports that follow explore the unique features of each growing area. The East Coast wine industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. The number of East Coast wineries more than tripled between 2000 and 2017, increasing from 405 to 1720, surpassing the number of wineries in California in the year 2000. New York saw the largest growth in absolute terms, but Maryland had the largest percentage increase. The number of wineries in New Jersey increased almost 180 percent over this time period.

2 History experiment stations of land grant universities like Cornell, Penn State and Rutgers. Many of the original vineyards Wine production has a long and colorful history in the in the East were plantings of convenience. Farmers East. Up and down the coast, one of the first things Euro- who could no longer survive off tobacco or dairy cattle pean settlers tried to do was grow grapes and make wine. planted grapes instead. Or couples looking for a change They saw a profusion of wild grapes, from the Muscadines of lifestyle would build a home and plant a vineyard in a of the south to the Labruscas of the north, giving hope they location for its beautiful views. The original plantings were could grow the European varieties familiar to them. They also often to popular varieties like all failed: Edward Antill in New Jersey, Lord Baltimore in better suited to a warmer, drier climate. Today, most new Maryland, Thomas Jefferson in Virginia, William Penn in vineyards are being sited only after careful soil analysis Pennsylvania, etc., and soon began making wine from and with the advice of experts, and growers are native grapes (e.g., Concord, Isabella, Scuppernong) and replanting with varieties better suited to their terroir. chance hybrids (e.g., , ). Later on, in re- sponse to phylloxera, French agronomists developed large Winemaking. numbers of French-American hybrids, several (e.g., Cham- bourcin, , , ), of which There have always been outstanding winemakers in the are still widely grown throughout the East, thanks in part to East like Jim Law and Michael Schapps in Virginia, Her- a Baltimore journalist, Philip Wagner, who advocated on mann J. Weimer in the Finger Lakes, Louis Caracciolo, John their behalf throughout the East. The European grape, vitis Altmaier, and Cameron Stark in New Jersey, Dave Collins vinifera, only took root with the advent of modern fungi- and Ed Boyce and Sarah O’Herron in Maryland, and cides and the development of techniques to prevent winter Chuck Jones and Mark Friszolowski in North Carolina, and kill, popularized by Dr. Konstantin Frank in the Finger Lakes the numbers are growing fast. The region is also begin- in the 1950s. ning to attract young winemakers from all over the world. Jacques van der Vyver of Chateau BuDe in Maryland and Legal and Financial Framework Stephen Bernard of Keswick in Virginia hail from South Africa. Matthieu Finot of Virginia’s King Family and Morten After , the states sought to regulate the wine Hallgren of Ravines in the Finger Lakes come from France; industry by discouraging entry and prohibiting single Luca Paschina of Barboursville in Virginia hails from Italy. ownership of all three tiers—production, distribution, and Other winemakers come from Germany, Portugal, and, of retail. Wineries were thus prohibited from selling wine course, California. at the winery and from directly distributing wines to retail stores. Wineries could only sell through distributors, which The homegrown winemaking talent is also getting bet- were often uninterested in selling the products of small ter and better thanks to first rate enology and viticulture producers. Some states, like Pennsylvania, set up a state training offered at universities and community colleges monopoly to distribute and directly sell wines. With a throughout the East. Of particular note is the viticulture and vested interest in the three tier system, distributors and enology program at Cornell University and the degree state monopolies were politically successful in preventing programs offered at Surry Community College in North reforms for decades. Carolina and the Community College of the Finger Lakes in New York. Beginning in the 1960s and 70s, states passed Farm Win- ery Laws to reduce license fees and permit grape grow- Even more important, perhaps, is the growing number of ers to sell their own wine at tasting rooms, farm markets, agricultural extension agents offering advice on growing and retail stores. Pennsylvania passed the first such law grapes and making wine and viticulture consultants and in 1968, followed by North Carolina (1973), New York winemaking consultants. In addition, winegrowers have (1976), Virginia (1980), and New Jersey (1981). As part of formed their own, often informal groups to exchange ideas their reforms, most states allowed their wineries to sell di- and taste wines with the goal of learning from experience rect to consumers, but out of state wineries were prohibited to improve winemaking. New Jersey’s Winemakers Co- from doing so. In 2005 the US Supreme Court ruled that in Op is a good example of wineries joining together to put a state and out of state wineries had to be treated equally. marketing focus on high quality wines. One by one, the states responded by adopting legislation to allow direct shipping from wineries anywhere. Climate and Grapes

Viticulture The climate of the East is, in general, humid with rainfall throughout the growing season. This puts a premium on Over the past decade or more, East Coast wineries have grape varieties that have the thick skins and loose clusters begun to put the focus on the grapes that that give good disease resistance. Vinifera varieties like originate in Europe rather than hybrids and the grapes Albariño, , Vermentino, and show native to North America. However, non vinifera varieties excellent promise among the whites, and continue to play an important role, especially in North and are especially promising among the reds. Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York. French hybrids like Chardonel, , , and Vidal Blanc do especially well and may be the only Growers are learning where to plant grapes and how to varieties than can make good wine in a wet year like match varieties to terroir, thanks in part to the agricultural 2018.

3 The Future

All the stars appear to be in alignment for continued improvement in East Coast wine. In another decade we may very well look back and say there has been a “revolution” in the quality of wines coming from the Atlantic Seaboard. What’s clear at the present is that each state has some outstanding winemakers making world quality wine. At the same time, most wineries are still producing wines of average quality. Raising the average quality of wine depends on many factors: enlightened public policies and support on the part of the states; continued strengthening of extension services and university-based viticulture and enology programs; new investment to increase the supply of high quality grapes and state of the art winemaking; and more retail distribution of wines to increase their visibility in the market and to strengthen As shown by the graph for the Finger Lakes above, the incentives to raise quality and value. As indicated above, climate is warming throughout the Atlantic Seaboard we think all of these factors are currently moving in the as it is everywhere else in the wine world. This presents right direction and promise a very bright future for the problems like heavier rainfall and more frequent extreme wines of New Jersey and other states of the East Coast. weather events, but it also extends the growing season. As a result, over time we can expect continued changes in the grape varieties successfully grown as well as changes in where they’re grown.

Acknowledgements. This report could not have been done without the as- The i-winereview.com is published by the International sistance and collaboration of the Garden State Wine Wine Review, LLC. Our office is located at 6625 Old Growers Association and its director Tom Cosentino Chesterbrook Road, McLean, VA 22101. Our email and the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association and its President, Grant Crandall. We are also grateful to is: [email protected] Rates for individual online several other individuals who assisted with informa- subscriptions are $89 annually. Commericcal online tion, data, and correcting errors in earlier drafts of the subscriptions for wine companies and member of the report--Dan Ward, Paul Vigna, Lenn Thompson, and wine trade are $149 annually. Subscriptions include Charlie Tomasello. Thanks, also, to the wineries that exclusive access to all online resources of i-winereview. generously provided samples for this report and to Sal com. Contact us about eligibility and rates. Subscriptions Westrich for his excellent treatise, New Jersey Wine: A may be purchased online at www.i-winereview. Remarkable History (American Palate, 2012). Finally, we express our gratitude to Lenn Thompson (The Cork com Individual reports are also available for $25. Report), Paul Vigna (Penn Live), and Carlo DeVito (East Reproduction of the material contained herein, including Coast Wineries) who have written extensively about copying, without written permission is prohibited by law. New Jersey and other Atlantic Coast wineries in their Media, wine importers, distributors and retailers may respective blogs. Thanks also to and use brief portions of this material in its original form if photographer Scott Quarella for their vineyard photo attributed to the International Wine Review. on the cover of this report.

4 Previous Wine Reports Issues 1-15 are available at www.iwinereview.com Issue 16 Oregon Issue 17 Sauvignon of the Loire Issue 18 Wines of Navarra Issue 19 Wines of Greece: Assyrtiko and Santorini Issue 20 The Santa Lucia Highlands Issue 21 The Chilean Wine Revolution Issue 22 Grapes and Wines of the Western Loire Issue 23 Ribera del Duero Revisited Issue 24 The New Wines of Portugal Double Issue Issue 25 The Wines of Austria Issue 26 The Diverse Wines of Argentina Double Issue Issue 27 Sweet and Dessert Wines of the World Issue 28 The Wines of Priorat Issue 29 The Wines of Monterey County Issue 30 The Wines of South Africa Double Issue Issue 31 Brunello di Montalcino Issue 32 The New Wines of Israel Issue 33 The Wines of Paso Robles Issue 34 Champagne Revisited Issue 35 The Wines of Soave Special Report South African Issue 36 The Wines of Santa Barbara Issue 37 The Wines of Sicily Issue 38 The Wines of Washington State Issue 39 The World of Special Report The Wines of Montefalco Issue 40 Rosé Champagne and Special Report The Exciting Sparkling Wines of South Africa Issue 41 The Amarones of Valpolicella Issue 42 The Wines of Catalonia Issue 43 The Wines of Rioja—A New Look Issue 44 The Wines of Sonoma County Issue 45 Comes of Age Issue 46 Special Report: The Best of Soave Issue 47 Special Report: The Best of Tuscany Issue 48 The Wines of Los Carneros Issue 49 Special Report: The Best of Spain Issue 50 The Wines of Chablis Issue 51 Special Report: Best Indigenous Wines of Sicily Issue 52 Special Report: The Best of Issue 53 American Sparkling Wine Issue 54 The Wines of Mount Veeder Issue 55 Wines of South Africa: White Blends and Old Vines Issue 56 Chianti Classico: Exciting Times Issue 57 Tannat and Other Wines of Uruguay Issue 58 Beaujolais in Transition Issue 59 Wines of the : Roero Issue 60 Chile’s Premium Wine Revolution Issue 61 California : A New Look Issue 62 Paso Robles: Cabernet Sauvigion & Other Bordeaux Varieties Issue 63 The Wines of Friuli: Collio’s Elegant Whites Issue 64 Selections for the New Year: The Best Wines Tasted in 2017 Issue 65 The Vines and Wines of Lodi Issue 66 The World of Rosé Issue 67 The Wines of Bulgaria Issue 68 Austrian Wine: Diverse Terroir, Exceptional Quality Issue 69 The Wines of the Finger Lakes Issue 70 The Rocks District: America’s Unique Terroir Issue 71 Washington State Revisited Issue 72 The Wines of Maryland These reports are available online at www.iwinereview.com

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