New
Jersey wines hit the spotlight in the 17th annual San Francisco
Chronicle Wine Competition, held the week of January 13 in Sonoma County, with
Sharrott Winery of Winslow Township earning a Double Gold medal for their
Wicked style port wine and 4JGs Winery (Colts Neck), Unionville Vineyards
(Ringoes) and Sky Acres (Far Hills) earning gold medals. The event is the
largest wine competition of American wines in the world with over 7,000 entries
in 2017.
Consumers
in New Jersey regularly experience the quality of wines produced by the more
than 50 wineries in the state. Wine judges in blind taste test competitions
like the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition are able to judge
wines by category without knowing the origin of the wine, thus eliminating any
bias and ultimately scoring the wines based on their overall quality and taste.
Overall
in the competition, New Jersey wineries earned 30 medals, including one Double
Gold, three Gold, seven Silver medals and 16 Bronze medals against competitors
from 28 states in the country.
New
Jersey has three American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) for grape growing and the
largest; the Outer Coastal Plain AVA in southern New Jersey produced 17 medals
from member wineries: Bellview Winery (Landisville), Heritage Vineyard (Mullica
Hill), Sharrott Winery (Blue Anchor/Hammonton), and White Horse Winery
(Hammonton).
NJ
Medal Count:
Sharrott
Winery – Double Gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze
Bellview
Winery – 2 Silver, 5 Bronze
4
JGS Winery – Gold, Bronze
Heritage
Vineyards – Silver, Bronze
Old
York Cellars – Silver, Bronze
Unionville
Vineyard – Gold, Silver, Bronze
White
Horse Winery – 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
Sky
Acres Winery – Gold, Bronze
Unionville
Vineyards earned a gold for their 2014 single vineyard series Chardonnay and a
silver for its Single Vineyard Series, Pheasant Hill Vineyard 2013 Syrah; 4JGs
Winery scored a gold for their 2014 Chambourcin and Sky Acres a gold for the
2015 Cabernet Franc.
Sharrott
Winery earned silver medals for its NV Tango Bordeaux blend, 2015 Chardonnay
and 2013 Petit Verdot while Bellview Winery in Landisville won silver for its
red blend Capella wine and its white blend Cygnus. Heritage Vineyards in
Mullica Hill earned silver for its 2015 limited release white blend of Muscat,
Albariño, and Chenin Blanc. Old York Cellars in Ringoes won silver for
its 2014 Syrah and White Horse Winery in Hammonton earned silver medals for
their 2013 Cabernet Franc and 2015 Chardonnay.
With
almost 2,000 acres of New Jersey farmland dedicated to grapevine cultivation,
and the state annually ranking in the top 15 in wine production, the Garden
State has made its mark in the wine industry. From just a dozen producers 15
years ago, the Garden State now boasts over 50 licensed producers.
The
GSWGA is a coalition of nearly 50 wineries and vineyards across New Jersey,
dedicated to raising the quality and awareness of the New Jersey wine industry.
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