Professional wine connoisseurs Daniele Raspini (left to right), Michelle Padberg, New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn and Edward Miller at the Terroir New Jersey Wine Showcase on July 19.
Winemakers William Alexander and Edward Antill won Great Britain’s Royal Society award of 200 pounds in 1758 for producing a quality wine similar to those England had been purchasing from France, marking the beginning of the New Jersey wine industry.
Master vintner Louis Nicholas Renault of France bought land in Egg Harbor City in 1864, and by 1870, had introduced New Jersey champagne. His Renault Winery later won prizes for excellence and became the largest distributor of champagne in the U.S.
“The Renault Winery is the oldest in the country,” said Scott Doninni, owner of the Auburn Road Winery in Pilesgrove, who participated in the Terroir New Jersey Wine Showcase on July 19 at the Camden County Sustainability Center in Blackwood.
“New Jersey had a very significant wine culture and industry before being devastated by Prohibition,” noted Doninni, who received valuable tips and information about growing wine from 12 world-renowned connoisseurs at the wine showcase, sponsored by the Camden County Board of Commissioners.
“This showcase is excellent,” he added. “It’s good for all the wineries in New Jersey.”
Doninni and his wife, Julianne, grow eight varieties of grapes and produce 16 wines on 23 acres of land they purchased in 2001 after retiring as lawyers in Philadelphia. They were thrilled to learn more from national and international wine experts at the showcase.
“This is a benchmark moment for all of us,” Doninni explained, adding that the wine connoisseurs were very serious and professional about “assessing our progress.”
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn said he was happy to be part of the showcase and is pleased with the growth of the state’s wine industry.
“This shows that using only New Jersey grapes we can produce quality wines,” he related.
After Prohibition, New Jersey provided only one winery license for each million residents, and they were practically impossible to obtain. By 1981, the state had just seven wineries – and everything changed. That year, the state approved the Farm Winery Act, the first of several efforts by the legislature to relax Prohibition-era restrictions and craft new laws to facilitate the alcoholic beverage industry’s growth and provide new opportunities for winery licenses.
The industry has boomed since then. By 2014, there were 48 licensed and operating wineries in the state; as of this year, there are 73.
“The goal of the showcase is to set benchmarks of quality for the state,” offered Sharyn Kervyn de Volkaersbeke, owner of KdV Wine Services in Voorhees. Terroir New Jersey appointed her to manage the event “based on her extensive expertise, reputation and credentials, which are well aligned with our mission, thereby ensuring that the goals will be met and surpassed.”
“The mission of the Showcase is to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in winemaking among wins produced in New Jersey,” Volkaersbeke pointed out. “It aims to establish and solidify New Jersey’s reputation as a premier destination for quality wine.”
Winery owners at the showcase sat at long tables in the meeting room across from the connoisseurs, who were divided into four groups of three. They tasted the wines and rated them for clarity, purity, intensity, complexity, aroma, length, harmony and overall quality.
“I’m a New Jersey wine virgin,” said Master of Wine Martin Moran, who has lived in Dublin, Ireland, for the past 30 years and has traveled the world helping winemakers improve their products. “This is my first time here. Some of the classic wines here are really good. The varieties unique to New Jersey are getting better.
:This state has a great future in winemaking.”
Moran studies the production of wine from “the grape to the glass,” including the soil and what types of grapes work best. During the showcase, experts independently assessed each wine in a blind format base and identified key quality indicators.
Wines that achieved a predetermined minimum evaluation rating will be designated as Showcase Selection wines and will be widely promoted at upcoming events, said Camden County Commissioner Al Dyer.
“New Jersey, and Camden County specifically, is becoming a world-class wine destination, boasting bountiful vineyards and successful wineries,” Dyer emphasized. “We are thrilled to welcome this group of wine experts to the sustainability campus, home to our very own Camden County Vineyard, to test the very best wines that New Jersey has to offer.”
“We are honored to hold the Terroir Showcase at our state-of-the-art Sustainability Center, which is where our Lakeland Vineyard is located,” said Commissioner Jonathan Young, liaison to the Office of Sustainability. “Our vineyard has produced bountiful harvests season after season, and this past fall, a fourth crop of chambourcin grapes from the vineyard was produced and delivered to Saddlehill Winery in Voorhees.
“Camden County is quickly becoming a world class wine destination, so we couldn’t think of a better location to host such a prestigious event.”
