SIGNATURE MOVES: Does New Jersey have a signature grape? Does it need one?

New Jersey feels like it’s on the verge of something big—of taking the next step. Its wine industry is far from nascent, but the offerings have never been better. Importantly, a small-but-growing number of wineries are doing the necessary work in the vineyard and the cellar to earn a spot at the top of East Coast wine, next to wineries from New York or Virginia.

But there is one thing that New Jersey wine doesn’t have: a “signature variety,” which many in the industry think would propel the state’s industry forward.

Briefly, a signature variety is the grape, and resulting wine, for which a region is best known. It’s the region’s flag planted in the sand—the tip of its spear in the marketplace.

In Napa, it’s Cabernet Sauvignon. In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, it’s Pinot Noir. Closer to home in the Finger Lakes region of New York, it’s Riesling.

A region doesn’t necessarily need a signature variety to be successful. Perhaps New Jersey’s wine diversity—it packs a lot of different grapes and wine styles into a relatively small geographic area—is its greatest strength. Opinions differ.

“I believe New Jersey would benefit from having a signature grape,” says John Cifelli, general manager of Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes. “You’d be hard pressed—pun intended—to find a region with notoriety that does not have a signature grape. When you talk about a wine region, the conversation almost immediately jumps to what is grown there. ‘What are they known for?’ is the natural question, and ‘A little bit of everything!’ isn’t a compelling answer.”

Beneduce Vineyards’ owner/winemaker Mike Beneduce sees benefits, but also potential challenges to choosing one grape. “I think they can sometimes create artificial limitations to innovation and exploration, which are both essential for new regions because there are just so many questions that need to be answered when searching for the best way to express your terroir.”

What is most important is how a region identifies its signature variety. It can’t simply be chosen by an ad agency or marketing office, as Virginia wine country’s short-lived, underwhelming push for Viognier showed over a decade ago.

A meaningful, sustainable signature variety needs to earn its renown, over time, with consistent quality that reinforces a reputation with customers and members of the trade.

Even then, the right pick might not stick.

Rich Olsen-Harbich, a long-time Long Island winemaker now at Bedell Cellars and co-founder of the defunct Long Island Merlot Alliance, recalls when Long Island advanced Merlot as its star grape. “Growers and winemakers [were] following the lead of what they saw in the vineyard and tasted in the cellar. It wasn’t just an idea formulated out of thin air—it was something that was manifested in the quality and style of the wines we made. As one of the early adherents to the Merlot signature variety movement, I’d have to say the idea wasn’t far off; it just left out Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.”

That sounds like a vote for signature varieties, plural, which perhaps is one in favor of diversity. Maybe.

For argument’s sake, let’s agree that New Jersey should identify a signature variety. What should it be?

In some ways, that’s even more complicated and might explain why one hasn’t emerged on its own already. 

The examples mentioned earlier are for regions within states. Napa, not California. The Finger Lakes, not New York. That’s because the geography, the weather, and the soils themselves—the terroir—aren’t uniform across those entire states. State borders are political, not natural. San Diego is a world away from San Francisco.

A MEANINGFUL, SUSTAINABLE SIGNATURE VARIETY NEEDS TO EARN ITS RENOWN, OVER TIME, WITH CONSISTENT QUALITY THAT REINFORCES A REPUTATION WITH CUSTOMERS AND MEMBERS OF THE TRADE. 

The same is true for the Garden State, despite its relative size next to California. Warren County and Cape May share little beyond an artificial state border. Should each claim a signature grape?

“It is a small state, so thinking of it as a homogenous region is an easy mistake to make,” says Cifelli, who adds “I feel there are three distinct growing zones in New Jersey: the north, the south, and Cape May. The only overlap in terroir is annual rainfall, which is fairly consistent. Otherwise, the soils, the USDA cold hardiness zones, the Growing Degree Days (GDD) accumulation, and the diurnal temperature patterns—they are all very different. So it makes it more challenging for New Jersey to have a signature grape because a signature grape has to be broadly planted.”

Cifelli would put forward Cabernet Franc as a potential signature grape for New Jersey, “not just because it is planted from Warren County to Cape May and makes consistent quality wines, but because it expresses itself differently in the different places it’s grown in New Jersey. It is, therefore, the best grape to explain through expression that New Jersey has different terroirs that all can make quality wines distinct to the ‘wine regions.’ Although it is grown successfully in other mid-Atlantic states, I don’t feel any have staked a claim to Franc that can’t be challenged by New Jersey. It is a noble variety that has cachet, commands a good price in the market, is dependable in the vineyard, and consistently good in the tasting room.”

Cabernet Franc is a popular candidate statewide, including southern parts of the state. Hawk Haven Vineyards’ executive winemaker Todd Wuerker, based in Cape May County, agrees with Cifelli.

“What started for me as that third component in a Bordeaux blend is becoming one of our more recognized wines,” Wuerker says. “[Cabernet Franc] seems to like the cooler climate and is showing cold hardiness for the north, and it enjoys the long growing season in the south with higher temperatures.”

Rich Heritage, general manager at his family’s winery, William Heritage in Mullica Hill, suggests another broadly planted grape: Chambourcin.

“If I had to choose one grape that comes closest to being our signature in southern New Jersey, I would say Chambourcin. It’s all about the grape’s ability to achieve optimal ripeness and maturity on the vine. The one grape showing consistency in doing so on our site is Chambourcin.”

Beneduce—perhaps not surprisingly, given his slightly more experimental approach—is thinking a bit further afield to less-common varieties.

“To me, a signature variety should be more than just something that’s widely planted and consistently makes high-quality wine,” he says. “I think it should also be somewhat unique to the region. There are so many places in the world that grow amazing Cabernet and Chardonnay, and I just don’t see New Jersey rising to the top of the wine world on the back of any of these [more common] varieties. We have a really unique climate and can grow some grapes here that are only successful in a few other places in the world: Blaufränkisch, Gewürz, Albariño. I’m much more interested in trying to realize the full potential of some of these more obscure grapes than throwing our hat in the ring with a hundred other regions growing Bordeaux varieties.”

There are far fewer New Jersey vineyard acres planted to these varieties, however. And they tend to do better in the northern parts of the state.

“Ultimately, the varieties that are most successful in the vineyard and show a real affinity for the specific terroir of the site will be the most sustainable pathway,” says Olsen-Harbich.

“Knowing New Jersey, I’m sure there are many different types of terroir, whether near the coast, the highlands in the north, or along the Delaware to the west. There are probably different varieties that will be successful in all of these areas—whether they be vinifera, hybrid, or native.”

This isn’t easy and the fact that there isn’t an obvious choice for New Jersey’s signature variety likely explains why New Jersey doesn’t have one. Not yet, anyway. And that’s OK.

In some European countries, laws dictate what grapes can be grown where. There is no such limitation in New Jersey. Grape growers can plant any variety they think will grow well on their particular piece of land. They can experiment. Some varieties will work. Others won’t.

Maybe New Jersey’s eventual signature variety is one only being planted for the first time this spring. Or maybe it is Cabernet Franc or Blaufränkisch. We may not know for another 10, 20, 50, or even 100 years.

It’s an idea that Heritage echoes. “We are still a young region and much more experimentation needs to be done in the vineyard and in the cellar. It took most of the world’s great wine regions centuries to figure out their signature grapes.”

New Jersey wine is on the right path, but for now its strength is still in its diversity—diverse terroir and diverse expressions of those terroirs.