Recently, Sue and I had a virtual meet-up with a group of winemakers who want to raise New Jersey’s profile on the U.S. wine industry scene and are working together to make that goal happen. Winemakers tend to be very competitive, so finding a group of them who want to play the team game is noteworthy.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that New Jersey has an active wine industry with 76 wineries in 2026 according to Wine Business Monthly. After all, New Jersey sits comfortably between the well-respected wine regions of New York (450 wineries in 2026) and Virginia (395 wineries) with Pennsylvania (401) and Maryland (105) next door.

The Rodney Dangerfield Problem

New Jersey wine suffers from the Rodney Dangerfield “respect” problem. Grapes have been grown and wine made in New Jersey since colonial times, but the shift towards quality wine is relatively recent. New Jersey’s wineries have big ambitions in terms of quality, but small scale in terms of production as is often the case in states where a farm winery act shapes distribution channels. You might think of them as the Garden State’s hidden germs.

A small group of these wineries formed the Winemakers Co-Op in 2015 aiming to both improve the quality of New Jersey wines and to further its reputation. The member wineries are

• • Auburn Road
  • Beneduce Vineyards
  • Hawk Haven
  • Unionville Vineyards
  • William Heritage Winery
  • Working Dog Winery

According to their website their goals are:

Member wineries aim to produce benchmark dry wines from estate‑grown vinifera (European) varieties that illuminate the differences in soil and climate that exist throughout the Garden State. Through a series of intimate tasting events, industry outreach and communication with the press, these wineries have established themselves as leaders of fine wine production on the East Coast. By spearheading essential industry research and development, Co-Op members are striving to push the boundaries of quality with each new vintage.

Sue and I got involved when we were invited to sample the Winemakers Co-Op “Open Source” wines. The Open Source project is such an original idea that we just had to say yes. Here’s how it works.

Common Base, Individual Vision

Each year since 2016 the Co-Op members have chosen a winegrape variety that they all produced as the object of a project to showcase the group’s work. Each winery contributes half a ton of grapes, which are combined and redistributed, providing the “open source” or common base of the wines that each individual member makes.

The source material is the same, but of course each winery chooses what to do with it and so a variety of types and styles of wines result. Most winemakers are a bit competitive in my experience, so I imagine there is some effort to make wines that are distinctive while advancing the collective goal.

Certainly that is the case with the current release, which is made from Cabernet Franc grapes harvested in 2022. This is the first time for Cabernet Franc in the Open Source program. Chardonnay was the focus of the early years of the program. Bordeaux and Pinot Noir blends appeared in 2023 and 2024.

It is interesting to see how different winemakers have responded to the Open Source Cabernet Franc challenge. William Heritage Winery, for example, made a white wine by gently pressing whole clusters and fermenting and ageing in stainless steel with six months of lees contact. Unexpected!

Vive la Difference?

The other wines are red, as  you would expect, but differ in all sorts of other ways. Variations on a theme and an opportunity for each winery to experiment and explore. But, since we have no previous experience with New Jersey wines, we were sometimes left scratching our heads.  The first wine we tasted, for example, reminded us a little of a Napa Cab Franc we tried recently while the second was closer to a Loire style of wine. Are these wines typical of Cab Franc from this region? Or are they more about exploring differentiation?

I’m not sure we’ve seen a project like this before although it reminds me a bit of the Coro Mendocino project. The Coro Mendocino wineries make distinctive wines from a common blend, but not from the same actual grapes.

Production of the Open Source is obviously limited. Each winery makes only about 23 cases of Open Source wine each year. The wines wear special Open Source labels and this year’s Cab Franc wines sell for $45 per bottle. Sue and I were fortunate to be invited to taste through the Cabernet Franc lineup.

You probably want to know which wine we like best. Too soon to tell, because we haven’t tasted them all yet, and in any case taste is very personal. But the most important thing about the Open Source project is something bigger than the individual wines. The most important thing is that the members of the Winemakers Co-op are working together to take their wines and their reputations to the next level.

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About William Heritage Winery
A fifth-generation family-owned and operated estate vineyard and winery located in Mullica Hill, in the heart of the Outer Coastal Plain American Viticultural Area. Bill & Penni Heritage began cultivating grapes on their 150 acres of apple and peach orchards in 1999, realizing the potential of the Garden State wine industry and starting a new chapter for the next generation.

About Beneduce Vineyards
Founded in 2012 in Pittstown, NJ, Beneduce Vineyards is a sustainably-minded, 4th-generation farm on a mission to prove the potential for world-class wines exists in the soils of Hunterdon County. Focusing on small lot production, creating unique wines from 100% estate grown grapes.

About Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery
Established in 2008 on land in Cape May that has been in the Wuerker family since the 1940s; Hawk Haven is owned and operated by husband and wife team Todd & Kenna Wuerker. Todd is a self-taught winemaker, crafting a diverse set of wines from 16 acres of estate-grown grapes. He has his sights set on becoming the first Garden State sparkling specialist.

About Unionville Vineyards
Set on 89 acres of preserved farmland in Hunterdon County, Unionville Vineyards comprises  five estate vineyards spread over three counties, allowing for unique, expressive wines to be crafted from fruit grown in the varying terroirs of central and northern New Jersey.

About Working Dog Winery
Established in 2001 by a group of friends with a shared passion for winemaking, Working Dog Winery has grown into a nearly 20-acre vineyard producing over a dozen vinifera varietals. After 23 years of dedication, the founding members entrusted the winery’s future to Carlee Ludwig, Sharon Kyle, and Kevin Kyle as they entered retirement in December 2024.

About Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery
Founded in 2003 by former Philadelphia-based lawyers Scott & Julianne Donnini, who left the corporate world and never looked back. Jules is a self-taught winemaker, and Scott runs the marketing and operations – together they create old-world style wines with a keen sense of balance that frames the beauty of the fruit.

This column is inspired by a recent birthday celebration dinner that featured three very different Saperavi wines from Georgia.

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Mariam invited us to a dinner celebrating her husband Todd’s birthday and we accepted with enthusiasm, offering to bring some Georgian wines with us. Mariam is originally from Georgia, so her dinners often feature dishes you’d find at a Georgian supra feast. Sue and I were happy to share Georgian wines, but we had a selfish hidden motive. We wanted to see what our fellow guests would think about the wines.

The guest list was diverse in terms of wine experience. Mariam and Todd knew Georgian wines very well, of course. Several guests were knowledgable wine enthusiasts, but had never tasted Georgian wines. Saperavi? Is that a grape or a region or a brand? And the rest were novices, intrigued by the opportunity, and willing to try something new.

Three Faces of Saperavi

Sue and I brought three Georgian wines we had received as samples. The sparkling  Mtsvane Estate Pet Nat Saperavi Rosé was beautiful in the glass and delicious on the palate, with nice acidity and great balance. Everyone enjoyed this wine, but Todd’s reaction was the most memorable. One taste and he knew where he’d had that wine before. At their wedding in Georgia. It was not just a special wine but also a memory of a special day. And, of course, it was a completely different idea of Saperavi. A great beginning.

The other two wines we brought to the party were alike (both were Saperavi wines), but also different. We wondered what our friends would think of them. One, the Dugladze Saperavi Qvevri, was made in the traditional Georgian way, fermented and agerd in qvevri clay vessels buried in the ground with only the lip of the vessel in view. This is a very old way of making wine which has been rediscovered and put into use around the world in different forms.

The final wine, a Schuchmann Saperavi, is a modern take on Georgian wine, fermented and aged in stainless steel to preserve aromas and fruit. Sue and I visited the Schuchmann winery when we were in Georgia for a wine tourism conference several years ago. We were confident that this wine would please the guests. But how would it compare to the other wines?

Of course the wines paired well with Mariam’s Georgian-style feast. What was surprising was the reaction to the wines. As Sue noted the next day, everyone embraced the wines and enjoyed them (which doesn’t always happen with unfamiliar wines or even familiar ones), but in different ways. One novice was fascinated by the Dugladze and Schuchmann wines because they were the same but also so different. She tasted them again and again.

Sue appreciated the qvevri wines, but was drawn to the clean stainless steel Saperavi best. What nice fruit and balance! Who wouldn’t enjoy this wine? I was drawn to the qvevri wine as often happened when we were in Georgia. I find a certain energy in some of these wines that really appeals to me.

Georgia’s Wine Market Miracle

Conclusions? The sample size, both in terms of drinkers and wines, is too small to allow much generalization, but it is hard not to be impressed with these wines and Georgia’s progress.

Saperavi may be Georgia’s best known wine grape variety, but it is certainly not the only one or even, depending upon whom you ask, the best. Saperavi is to Georgia what Malbec is to Argentina, the relatively easy-to-pronounce signature grape variety that is both an advantage in breaking into new markets and a liability because it can over-shadow other options like a delicious semi-sweet red Kartuli Marani Kindzmarauli and a dry white Akido Kisi.

To Saperavi and Beyond

We had an opportunity to taste both these wines a week after the birthday party gathering. Todd’s brother missed the party because he was fishing in Ketchikan and we were invited back to share the Coho salmon he caught there. What a treat!

White wines are actually more popular in Georgia than red wines (and are gaining share on reds in the overall market here in the U.S.). And sweetish reds are a large market segment here, too, even if they don’t get a lot of publicity. Lots of potential for Georgian wines.

The Kisi was a perfect match for the Coho baked under a layer of caramelized sweet onions. The Kindzmarauli was juicy and grapey and paired nicely with everything, but was is “semi-sweet?” As we know from our Riesling tastings, sweetness is very subjective, but Sue says that this wine is so well-balanced that she’d call it off-dry, not semi-sweet. In any case it was a hit with both Mariam (it reminded her of her Georgian home) and Todd (it was the taste of the first wine he was served on his first trip to Georgia).

Random Walk in Tbilisi?

You are unlikely to stumble upon Georgian wines like these on a random walk through your upscale supermarket’s wine aisle, but imports of Georgian wine have been growing in recent years. I searched the inventory of my local Total Wine & More store, for example, and I was surprised to find 37 different Georgia wine SKUs. That is sort of a miracle when you think about it. Red, white, and qvevri amber. Dry and semi-sweet. Easy to pronounce Saperavi and more challenging grape variety, region, and style names, too.

How does Georgia compare to other “Cradle of Wine” countries in terms of their Total Wine footprint. Armenia, which has been making great strides recently, has only two wines on my local Total Wine shelf, both made with the Areni grape variety which is easy to pronounce and also makes delicious wines. I could not find any wines from Turkey, which also has a very long wine history.

Three cheers for Saperavi, Georgia, and its wine market miracle. And best wishes for success navigating the uncertain waters ahead.

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I mentioned Turkey in the article above for three reasons. First, because, of course, it shares a place in wine history with Georgia and Armenia. Second, because Sue and I have a little experience with Turkish wines and appreciate their potential in the U.S. market. The third reason is that I have been reading a review copy of Mehtap Emmie Turan’s book Turkish Wine: Past, Present, and Future of Viticulture in Turkiye. The book examines the land, the grapes, and the wines as you would expect, but I especially appreciate the attention to history, culture, politics, and business challenges. It made me realize that, while Turkey and Georgia are different in very important ways, they also share certain challenges. Perhaps Georgia’s success will inspire the Turkish wine sector. Fingers crossed.

What do you think of when you think of Colorado? Chances are that Colorado wine isn’t the first image that comes to mind, but it should be somewhere on your radar screen. Wine is both old and new in this Rocky Mountain state.

Peaks and Valleys

Wine was first produced in 1890 from grapes grown on 60 acres of vineyard and orchard land on Rapid Creek above Palisade along the Colorado River. The decades since these first wines were made have been full of peaks and valleys for Colorado wine and Sue and I have had sort of a rocky road experience ourselves with these wines.

We’ve had several chances to taste Colorado wines over the years, especially when I spoke at the state’s annual VinCO Conference in 2018. While we’ve been impressed by some of the wines, we were disappointed by others.

Peaks and valleys. This uneven experience is a problem because you seldom get a second chance to make a first impression when people taste your wine. But it is also understandable. Honestly, I don’t know any wine region that doesn’t have its share of peaks and valleys.

Climbing to the Heights

It is also understandable because, although the Colorado wine industry is surprisingly old, it is also unexpectedly young. You see, Colorado citizens embraced Prohibition even before the national policy was enacted and the vines were ripped out more than 100 years ago. Wine really didn’t restore its foothold in Colorado until the 1970s (Warren Winniarski, of Judgment of Paris fame, made some of those early wines). The industry has charted an upward path since then, but the road has remained rocky.

Sue and I were delighted when offered the opportunity to taste Colorado wines from The Ordinary Fellow winery, a project of the winemaker Ben Parsons and located in the old United Fruit Growers COOP peach packing shed in Palisade. I don’t know Parsons personally, but his career path reminds me of Randall Grahm. Grahm is a brilliant brand-builder who is also a committed terroirist. Both land and brand, if you know what I mean. I think Parsons might be the same.

Parsons achieved brand-building fame with The  Infinite Monkey Theorem winery. He started out making wine in a quonset hut in Denver, far from the vineyards but up close to the urban customer base. He set out to be different, which drew him to keg wine and then to cans. Infinite Monkey Theorem became a canned wine phenomenon to such a degree that at one point a second winery was opened in Austin. Parsons and the Infinite Monkey Theorem brand were way ahead of the curve in terms of cans and creating an image and environment that appeals to younger consumers.

Parsons left Infinite Monkey Theorem in 2019 to found The Ordinary Fellow (named for a favorite pub in England), making wine in Palisade from grapes grown on two high-elevation vineyards in southwest Colorado.

More Than Mile High

We tasted three of the Colorado wines. Our favorite was a 2021 Riesling ($18) from the Box Bar vineyard, elevation 6200 feet. It had intense Riesling character and developed nicely in the glass with dinner. We also enjoyed the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon ($25) from the same vineyard. Can you taste high elevation? I wonder. This wine reminded me of some high-elevation Malbecs from Salta in Argentina. The acidity really lifted the and balanced the tannins. Was it really an elevation effect? Probably the power of suggestion, but very interesting.

The 2021 Pinot Noir ($25) from the 6800-foot Hawk’s Nest vineyard struck us as a work in progress, but one we’d be interested to follow in the years to come. What a beautiful light color and nice nose! But Sue thought it tasted more like a Grenache than Pinot Noir, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Me? I’m just amazed that Pinot Noir can be grown in Colorado, but I guess I need to reimagine what’s possible in Colorado. Overall I would say these wines are a “peak” experience for sure. I hope we have a chance to visit the winery in Palisade somewhere down the road.

Parons produces about 2500 cases of wine these days with plans to grow to 5000 cases. He’s working hard to develop the vineyards and to make wine that reflects their particular terroir.

Rocky Road Ahead?

Colorado has 163 wineries according to Wine Business Monthly’s annual survey, which puts it just ahead of Missouri and just behind of North Carolina (two important wine producers) on the list. A WineAmerica economic impact study suggests wine is an important driver of jobs and income.

I asked my friend Doug Caskey, who is executive director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, about the road ahead for the state’s wine industry and he provided a very realistic assessment. On the plus side, innovation is rising, including new sparkling wines that expand the state’s wine menu. But scale (and therefore economies of scale) is limited by several factors including water availability, the risk of severe winter weather, and the cost of vineyard lands.

Colorado recently expanded wine sales from specialized shops to include supermarkets and convenience stores and this change introduces a big question mark for Colorado wines. On one hand, wine will be more readily available for the state’s shoppers, which is likely to increase wine sales. But will it increase Colorado wine sales, or will those supermarket shelves be filled with bigger-volume wines from California and elsewhere? Lots of uncertainty.

Will the rising tide lift all wine boats? Maybe. Supermarkets like to demonstrate their commitment to local products and producers. What could be more local in Colorado than Colorado wine? However, based on what we’ve seen in other states, it’s a tough problem to solve.

Sue and I are glad we had this opportunity to revisit Colorado wine and look forward to learning more about this state’s evolving wine industry in the future.

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As you probably already guessed, The Ordinary Fellow wine isn’t ordinary at all. Its exceptionalism begins with the colorful labels, which are actually more complicated and interactive than they appear in the photos. There are two parts to the label. The first is a very colorful inner label that reminds me a little of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” type of art, then a plain white outer label that rotates to reveal different aspects of the inner art. Kinda psychedelic! Not ordinary at all.

The American wine scene is incredibly deep and wide. There are thousands of wineries (more than 11,000 in 2023, according to Wine Business Monthly) producing tens of thousands of different wines with prices ranging from two bucks to several hundred dollars.  Wine is produced in every state and the District of Columbia, too.

Spoiled for Choice

This explosion of American wine is noteworthy for many reasons, especially in the context of history. Don’t forget that commercial sales of wine were illegal during Prohibition and are still heavily taxed,  regulated, and often discouraged in many parts of the country.

The widespread production of wine is also challenged by what the economist Robert H. Frank called The Winner-Take-All Society in his book of the same name. When consumers have a choice (and wine consumers have an incredible abundance of choice), it is natural for them to begin to look for the best choice and to focus on that once it is identified. (Wine critic numerical scores reinforce this process, of course). Add in the band-wagon effect as transmitted through the internet (think Yelp rankings of winery visits) and pretty sonon attention is firmly focused on a relatively small number of favorites with most of the rest left behind.

It was easy to see the Winner-Take-All effect when Frank’s book was published in 1995. It is easy to see it now, too, and it represents one of several powerful forces for consolidation in the wine industry. There may be more than 11,000 wineries all across America, but most of the wine is made by a small number of large wineries in California. The winner doesn’t take it all in terms of market share, but lots of smaller wineries struggle a bit for market traction and attention.

Think Local. Drink Local.

Sue and I try to seek out local wine producers when we travel and we are fascinated by what we discover. A recent Wine Economist column on Arizona Wine Revisited has inspired us to highlight Mendocino County, California. It isn’t a new wine region — quite the opposite! But, sitting just north of the bright lights shining on the Napa and Sonoma valleys, Mendocino has suffered from the downside of the winner-take-all situation.

Jancis Robinson and Linda Murphy summed up one part of the Mendocino story in their 2013 book on American Wine. 

Only in the last two decades has Mendocino County won acclaim for its wines; previously it was known for selling its grapes outside the county. In the early 1900s Mendocino didn’t have railroads or river systems with which to deliver finished wines to San Francisco, where they could be sold. So growers transported their fruit by wagon to the Italian Swiss Colony co-op in Asti (Sonoma County), where they were ” lost” in large, inexpensive blends. … Those discouraging days are finally over.

Some of those early Italian Swiss Colony wines cited Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino (great billing!) as the source of the grapes. But that, I think, was before the advent of American Viticultural Areas and their regulations. Soon these wines were designated “California” and Mendocino sort of fell off both the label and the consumer radar. The wine wars became brand wars and brand Mendocino struggled.

But, as American Wine notes, Mendocino is back. Although lots of Mendo grapes are still “exported” to other parts of California to make popular wines, home-grown producers are getting recognition, too.

Sue and I sampled wines from three Mendocino producers during a pair of “Mendocino weeks” at our house: Husch Vineyards, Graziano Family of Wines, and Ettore Winery. Although this only scratches the surface of Mendocino wine, these wines show some of the many faces of the region.

Both Sides Now: Husch Vineyards.

Husch Vineyards dates from 1968 and became the first bonded winery in Mendocino’s Anderson Valley in 1971. The Oswald family purchased the operation in 1979 and it has stayed in the family ever since.

Husch wines show two distinctly different faces of Mendocino County. The Anderson Valley’s cooler climate yields elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and a Dry Gewurtztraminer with a loyal following. Warmer inland vineyards produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Old Vine Zinfandel, and Chenin Blanc grapes among others.

The wines are impressive, but the Dry Gewurtztraminer, off-dry Chenin Blanc, and Old Vines Heritage red wine blend of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, and Carignane from the historic Garzini Ranch vineyard, are special favorites. We are fans.

All in the Family: Graziano Family of Wines

If Husch Vineyards is old by contemporary California standards, Graziano, founded in 1918, is positively historic and makes a point to honor its history in its wines. After 70 years as  growers, Greg Graziano started making wine, too, in 1988. I think he realized his grapes were too good to let them disappear into other wineries’ big vats. The wine family today includes four labels: Saint Gregory, Monte Volpe, Enotria, and Graziano.

The Saint Gregory wines exploit cooler vineyard sites and include Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The Graziano wines, on the other hand, highlight the old vines planted by the family in warmer spots, including the California classic trinity of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Carignane, plus a lovely Chenin Blanc.

The Monte Volpe and Enotria labels honor the family’s Italian heritage with wines made from traditional Italian grape varieties such as Sangiovese, Vermentino, Negroamaro, and Aglianico (Monte Volpe) and Arneis, Dolcetto, and Barbera (Enotria).

Obviously, the wines are very different from one another, but they share a certain undeniable family resemblance that I characterize as “Italian sensibility.” What do I mean by that? Well, Italian wines are just different, with their lifted acidity and the way they call for food to pair with them. Greg Graziano is the dean of Mendocino winemakers and I think the winery and its distinctive sensibility is likely to stay “all in the family” for decades to come.

Fresh Faces: The Ettore Winery

Mendocino continues to attract and inspire winemakers. Ettore Biraghi is one of the fresh faces on the scene. Born in Lombardy, Ettore began his winemaking career in the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino. He owns, with business partner Franco Bruni, Tenuta Agricola Luigina winery in Stabio, Switzerland. Ettore visited California in 2015 to learn about its vineyard regions and discovered Mendocino. His winery opened in 2019 and the first organic wines were released a year later.

We have tasted two of Ettore’s wines. The Cabernet Sauvignon, from Sanel Valley Vineyards vines of 21 to 29 years of age, would compete very well in a lineup with Napa Valley Cabs of twice the price (Mendocino wines in general are very good value  for quality). We also sampled the Chardonnay “Zero,” which is made without added sulfites using a process called “Purovino.” I thought it was a bit weird and didn’t much remind me of Chardonnay, but Sue thought it was interesting. More research required.

Mendocino has a long history and, I think, a bright future. As noted above, we have just scratched the surface, but it is a start and we encourage you to pick up where we left off.

Watch for a series of occasional columns about America’s wine regions. Colorado and Michigan are next on our agenda.