South Jersey Now Home to America’s Newest Wine Region

          The Napa Valley and Sonoma County are probably America’s most well known wine making appellations.  South Jersey has just joined their ranks.

          Encompassing most of southern New Jersey, the Outer Coastal Plain is one of the fastest growing wine regions in the country, and because of its unique characteristics as a grape growing region this distinctive area has been granted a federal designation as an approved “American Viticulture Area” (AVA).

          Four years after the initial application was submitted to the Federal Government, the country’s newest AVA became a reality on March 12, 2007.  It was a long and tedious process that would not have been completed without the support of Congressman Frank A. LoBiondo and the Rutgers Co-Operative extension team headed by Jack Rabin.

What exactly is an AVA?

In order for a region to be approved as an AVA, it must be able to prove its identity as a unique physiographic region and as a region that is beneficial to grape growing.  Some of the criteria used by the federal government used to determine whether an area meets this standard include climate, soil type, and water table. 

          The Outer Coastal Plain is New Jersey’s largest physiographic area consisting of about 2.25 million acres including all of Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, and Ocean Counties and parts of Salem, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, and Monmouth Countie.. It is known for its unique, well-drained soils of sandy loam which are amongst the best on the East Coast for producing high quality wine grapes.  The region’s moderated winter temperatures, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, and later frost dates allow many cold sensitive grape varieties (difficult to grow in other areas) to excel here.

          Although many may not realize it, the Outer Coastal Plain has been a wine region for a very long time and is home to the oldest continuously operating winery in the United States which was established in 1864.  Most recently, The NJ Governor’s cup for Best Grape Wine was given to wineries in the Outer Coastal plain in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and the Cup for Best Non-Grape Wine in 2004 and 2006. With 16 operating wineries and 20 commercial vineyards, America’s newest AVA is able to produce some of the finest wines in the world.