New Jersey wine
Beginning in 1981, the state legislature relaxed Prohibition-era restrictions and crafted new laws to facilitate the growth of the industry and provide new opportunities for winery licenses.
Today, New Jersey wineries are crafting wines that have earned recognition for their quality from critics, industry leaders, and in national and international competitions.
In 1767, two men, Edward Antill and William Alexander, Lord Stirling received recognition for their successful efforts to cultivate grapes and produce wine on their plantations from the Royal Society of Arts in London.
[10][11] In 1758, the Royal Society of Arts (formally, the "Society instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce") sought to incentivize agricultural innovation and cultivation in the North American colonies by offering a "premium"—or cash award—of 100 British pounds (£100) for the planting of vineyards and the production of "five tuns of red or white wine of acceptable quality.
[8][12] William Alexander (1726-1783), the self-styled "Earl of Stirling," informed the society in 1767 that he had planted 2,100 vines at his estate in Basking Ridge, in central New Jersey's Somerset County.
[8] Sterling had reported that his plantings were "chiefly Burgundy, Orleans, Black, White and Red Frontiniac, Muscadine, Portugals and Tokays.
"[8] Shortly after his death, Antill published an 80-page tract entitled An Essay on the cultivation of the Vine, and the making and preserving of Wine, suited to the different Climates in North-America (1771) and this account influenced scholarship well into the nineteenth century.
[18] While Mackay thought that it was "excellent as a summer drink" he quipped that, "many is the American connoisseur of champagne who has his taste cultivated on Newark cider.
In 1859, an agricultural society was organized in Egg Harbor City and tested over forty different grape varietals for local cultivation.
"[22] Prominent vintners from the Egg Harbor City area during this period, who specialized in dry red wines primarily from Norton grapes, included Charles Saalmann and Julius Hincke.
[26] Welch was an adherent to the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, which strongly opposed "manufacturing, buying, selling, or using intoxicating liquors.
"[27][28] Despite Landis' efforts to create an alcohol-free community, Italian and German immigrants who settled at Vineland started producing alcoholic wine by the 1870s.
[29][30] Prohibition was a major reform movement from the 1840s into the 1920s, and was sponsored by evangelical Protestant churches, especially the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Disciples and Congregationalists.
A repeal movement pointed out the hypocrisy of Prohibition activists and politicians, the rise of organised crime, and how it undermined respect for the law.
Seeking tax revenue and to weaken the base of organised crime, Franklin Roosevelt and other politicians sought to end prohibition, and did so with the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on 5 December 1933.
During the Prohibition era (1919-1933), several wineries survived by adopting clever strategies for skirting the law and preserving their businesses.
Renault Winery continued producing wine but cleverly marketed it in drugstores and pharmacies as a medicinal "tonic" that doctor's prescribed "liberally for maladies ranging from pregnancy pains to insomnia.
In 1981, the state legislature passed the New Jersey Farm Winery Act subsequently signed by Governor Brendan Byrne.
[38][39] In 1999, New Jersey implemented its Quality Wine Alliance (QWA) program modelled after similar rigorous standards in Italy and France.
Of the nine judges in Princeton, five were American, three French, and one Belgian and represented vineyard owners, international wine critics and journalists.
"[47] Several critics have publicly pointed out flaws in the competition including the comparison of weaker vintage French wines, and that the results are statistically meaningless.
[48][49] Indeed, event organizers Ashenfelter and Quandt have published papers criticising the methods of the 1976 Judgment of Paris and undermining the effectiveness of wine tastings.
Northern New Jersey, especially the northwestern regions of the state, experience a humid continental climate (microthermal)—a cooler climate due to its higher elevations in the mountainous and rocky terrain of the state's northwestern counties that are part of the Appalachian Mountains and the protected New York-New Jersey Highlands region.
These northwestern regions of the state have colder winters and a shorter growing season that proves challenging to winegrowers who must consider this in their selecting cold-hardy varietals for cultivation, and in their viticultural practices.
The state's five physiographic provinces offer a range of unique terroirs, climates and microclimates for vineyard production that is reflected in the essence of the wine.
In the Atlantic Coastal Plain, fertile, loamy soil makes the land ideal for agriculture and is responsible for New Jersey's nickname of the "Garden State".
[60] This AVA is roughly equivalent to the Outer Coastal Plain physiographic province, including most of the State's Atlantic coastline and the area known as the Pine Barrens.
It is characterized by a combination of factors conducive to cultivating grapes, including a climate moderated by the influence of Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, a growing season extending 190–220 days, and fertile sand and sandy loam soils.
[7][64] Grapes: Albariño, Baco noir, Barbera, Blaufränkisch (Lemberger), Brachetto, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Catawba, Cayuga White, Chambourcin, Chancellor, Chardonnay, Chenin blanc, Ciliegiolo, Colobel, Colombard, Concord, Corot noir, Corvina, Counoise, De Chaunac, Delaware, Diamond, Dolcetto, Durif (Petite Sirah), Fredonia, Frontenac, Frontenac gris, Gewürztraminer, Geneva Red, Grechetto, Grenache, Grüner Veltliner, Horizon, Ives noir, La Crescent, Lagrein, Lakemont, Landot noir, Léon Millot, Malbec, Malvasia bianca, Marechal Foch, Marquette, Marquis, Marsanne, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Muscat blanc, Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat Ottonel, Nebbiolo, Nero d'Avola, Niagara, Noah, Noiret, Norton (Cynthiana), Orange Muscat, Petit Manseng, Petit Verdot, Pinotage, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Pinot noir, Rayon d'Or, Reliance, Riesling, Rkatsiteli, Roussanne, Sagrantino, Sangiovese, Sauvignon blanc, Teroldego, Schiava Grossa, Sémillon, Seyval blanc, St. Laurent, Sumoll, Syrah, Tempranillo, Tinta Cão, Touriga Nacional, Traminette, Trebbiano, Vespolina, Vidal blanc, Vignoles (Ravat 51), Villard blanc, Villard noir, Viognier, Vranec, Zinfandel, and Zweigelt.
Today, New Jersey is ranked seventh in the nation in total wine production behind California, New York, Washington, Oregon, Kentucky and Florida.
