New Jersey Wine Vintages

How important is a vintage year to the quality of the wine you purchase and enjoy? If you ask some wine proprietors, not very. I say this because you will often see a great review of a wine hanging over the bottles that are identical–except for the vintage year, often a year later than the one reviewed above the bin. So how important is the vintage? Ask the wineries in California affected by the fires out there, where the smoke damaged many of the vineyards that were not decimated by the fire itself. Or perhaps, a hurricane, with high winds that can happen anywhere without warning or time for adequate defensive steps. But vintages are also affected by more subtle things like the amount of sunshine, average temperatures for the growing season, rainfall (not just how much rain, but when it falls). If there is a heavy rain just as the grapes are ripe and getting ready for harvesting, it can do a great deal of damage to them. The photo above shows a few of my cellared 2022 reds.

Examples of Great Vintages

So what are some really good vintages in New Jersey? Based upon feedback from owners, growers, and winemakers I have spoken to, 2010, 2019, 2021, and 2022 are among the best years in the past 15-20 years. Orley Ashenfelter, a distinguished grower in Vineland (and retired Princeton Professor, known as the “Father of Wine Economics”) believes that 2022 is probably the best vintage in New Jersey since 2010. You may have trouble finding a 2010, but I have a few 2019’s, 2021’s, and I am stocking up on my 2022’s. I suggest you do the same.

The NJ 2022 Vintage

On Sunday, my wife and I got to taste our allotment wines and a couple of bonus tastes at Hawk Haven. Lucky for us, there were a few of the wonderful 2022 vintage reds in our tasting (described below). Incidentally, the OA before each of the three wines below indicate that the grapes were sourced from Orley Ashenfelter’s vineyard in Vineland.

• 2022 OA Cabernet Franc-A terrific version with deeper color and more body than usual. It earned 93 Points from the Wine Enthusiast.
• 2022 OA Petit Verdot-A very deep purple hue with a tasty, robust, dry flavor of blackberries and plum.
• 2022 OA Meritage-A great blend of Cab Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot.

In addition to their 2022 OA Cabernet Franc (93 Points); their 2022 Q Red Blend (93 Points); 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon (91 Points); and 2022 Signature Series Syrah (90 Points) all garnered high scores from the Wine Enthusiast.

A number of other New Jersey wineries have recently won high praise for their 2022 vintage from the Wine Enthusiast. Unionville Vineyards 2022 Mistral Rouge received 92 Points from the Wine Enthusiast. While I don’t believe they have been rated yet, William Heritage Reserve 2022 Cabernet Franc Norman’s Vineyard is one of the best Cab Francs I have ever tasted. The same is true for their 2022 Malbec Reserve, an amazing Malbec! The photo at the top of this post also includes another William Heritage wine, their Reutter’s Vineyard Merlot, and three classic Turdo wines from the 2022 vintage (their Sangiovese, Merlot, and Rosso red blend. There are many other great examples of the 2022 New Jersey vintage reds. I am just sharing those I have in my cellar and/or have tasted recently.

NJ White Wine Vintages

I also don’t want to slight the wonderful white wines being produced in New Jersey. However, vintage years are more critical for reds generally, as they are often able to be cellared longer due to their higher tannin levels. It is important to note that an average or even “off year” for a red is not necessarily an off year for a white wine. 2023 was a great year for some white wines, like Unionville’s 2023 Pheasant Hill Chardonnay (pictured below). Their Chardonnay may be the best one produced in the state and this one received 92 Points from the Wine Enthusiast (as did their 2023 Mistral Blanc)-a wonderful white blend. These are just two of the white wines that have recently won 90 or more points from a major wine magazine and that I have recently enjoyed. Though both of these wines were 2023’s, there were some excellent New Jersey white wines produced in 2022, as well. But they are getting harder to find today.

2022-It was a very good year!

You will be seeing the wines mentioned above again in my Top 25 Wines of the Year, coming soon.

Coming Attractions

• My 2025 NJ Winery Highlights
• My Top 25 NJ Wines of the Year
• Cedar Rose Vineyards Winter ’25
• Amalthea Cellars Winter ’25

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