In 1758 winemakers William Alexander and Edward Antill won Great Britain’s Royal Society award of 200 pounds for producing a quality wine similar to those England had been purchasing from France, marking the beginning of the New Jersey wine industry.
In 1864 Master Vintner Louis Nicholas Renault of France bought land in Egg Harbor and by 1870 introduced New Jersey Champagne. His winery won prizes for excellence and became the largest distributor of champagne in the United States.
“The Renault Winery is the oldest in the country,” said Scott Doninni, owner of the Auburn Road Winery in Pilesgrove, who was participating in the Terroir New Jersey Wine Showcase on Saturday, 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,” said Doninni, who received valuable tips and information about growing wine from 12 world-renowned connoisseurs at the event sponsored by the Camden County Board of Commissioners.
“This Showcase is excellent. It is good for all the wineries in New Jersey, said Doninni, who along with his wife, Julianne, grow eight different varieties of grapes and produce 16 different wines on 23 acres of land they purchased in 2001 after retiring as lawyers in Philadelphia. He was thrilled to learn more from national and international experts.
“This is a benchmark moment for all of us,” he said, adding that the wine connoisseurs were very serious and professional about “assessing our progress.”
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn said he has 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.”
After Prohibition, New Jersey provided only one winery license for each million residents and licenses were practically impossible to obtain. By 1981, New Jersey had just seven wineries, and then everything changed.
That year the state government 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 growth of the alcoholic beverage industry and provide new opportunities for winery licenses.
The industry has boomed since then. By 2014 there were 48 licensed and operating wineries and as of this year there are 73 in the state.
“The goal of the Showcase it to set benchmarks of quality for the state,” said Sharyn Kervyn de Volkaersbeke, owner of KdV Wine Services in Voorhees.
Terroir New Jersey appointed Volkaersbeke to manage the New Jersey Wine Showcase “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. It aims to establish and solidify New Jersey’s reputation as a premier destination for quality wine,” Volkaersbeke said.
Winery owners 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. This is my first time here,” 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.
“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,” said Moran, who studies the production of wine from “the grape to the glass,” including the soil and what types of grapes would work best.
During the showcase, the 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, who was having a great time at the event.
“New Jersey, and Camden County specifically, is becoming a world class wine destination, boasting bountiful vineyards and successful wineries,” Dyer said. “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.”
The 12 experts rating the New Jersey wines included Moran; Francois Cote of Quebec, Canada; Corey Garner of Napa, California; Vanessa Hoffman of Finger Lakes, New York; Bob Madill of Finger Lakes, New York; Aaron Mandel, Esq., of St. Louis, Missouri; Kevin Ostrowski of Beaver, Pennsylvania; Michele Padberg of Dixon, New Mexico; Marie Cheon-Thong of London, England; Daniele Raspini of Florence, Italy; Edward Miller of Finger Lakes, New York; and Doris Miculan Bradley of Toronto, Canada
“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,” Young said. Thanks to the efforts of the winery owners and the panel of connoisseurs on July 19, the state’s wine industry will continue to flourish, and residents can enjoy a delicious glass of wine made from grapes grown in New Jersey soil for many years to come.
