DiMatteo Vineyards

 

DiMatteo Winery and Vineyards is part of the booming Hammonton wine industry. While DiMatteo has a fairly small tasting room they offer a number of classic vinifera wines and fruit wines and they have received many awards for them. This year alone they won Gold Medals at the 2016 New Jersey Wine Competition for their NV Blueberry Wine and their NV Diamond Wine. At the same competition they took a Silver Medal for their NV Blackberry Wine and Bronze Medals for their NV Crantasia and their NV Chocolate Raz. Also this year they won Silver Medals at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition for their Fruit Blend 2015 Cran Cherry, Cayuga 2014 Jersey White, Concord 2014 Pasquale Red, Other Red Varietal Non-Vinifera 2015 Jersey Red, 2014 Niagra and Fruit Blend 2015 Black Eye and Bronze Medals for their Flavored Wines 2015 Chocolate Raz, 2015 Traminette and 2014 Apple.

DiMatteo makes several off-dry and semi-dry white wines: White Merlot, Niagra, Jersey White (semi-dry with a hint of peach), Traminette (theirs is a sweet-spicy white), Diamond (Semi-dry with a light, crisp taste); Vidal Blanc (theirs is fairly dry, but still fruity, with more body than many) and they also make a White Sangria. Try the Vidal Blanc.

DiMatteo’s red wines include their Merlot; Cab Franc; Chambourcin Reserve; Red Table Wine (a little on the sweet side); Jersey Red (full-bodied Italian red); Pasquale Red (their “signature wine”, it is a fruity sweet combination of Concord and Ives grapes); Chocolate Raz and Black Eye. Fruit wines include Apple, Cherry, CranCherry, Crantasia, Strawberry, Blackberry and Blueberry. While the sweeter, fruit wines may be the stars here, their Chambourcin Reserve, Merlot and Cab Franc are well worth a try. The Chambourcin Reserve is one of the best Chambourcins in the state, in my opinion. Considering that Chambourcin has become one of the signature grapes in our state, that’s saying something, as many of the state’s wineries produce a pretty good Chambourcin.

The tasting room is open Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00 PM. During the summer and warmer months they are open five days a week. Check their website for up-to-date information. Tastings are $8 for your choice of seven available wines and the cost includes a souvenir wine glass. They give 5% discounts for ½ case purchases, 10% off mixed cases and 15% off single varietal cases.

My book, New Jersey Uncorked: A Snob-Free Taste of NJ Wine, is in the final stages of preparation and it is anticipated that it will be published in March, 2017. More details forthcoming in future posts and tweets.

Tasted a New Jersey wine lately? Visited a NJ winery recently? Share your experiences here.

Cheers!