New Jersey Wine Country

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🤓 Did You Know?

New Jersey has three federally recognized AVAs: Warren Hills (in the Kittatinny Ridge and valley highlands of northwest NJ), Outer Coastal Plain (the sandy-soil coastal wine corridor in South Jersey), and Central Delaware Valley (shared with Pennsylvania).

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About New Jersey Wine Country

New Jersey wine country exists within two hours of 20 million people — and increasingly, those 20 million people are discovering it. Sixty-six estate wineries in a state most commonly associated with highways, casinos, and the Shore have developed a wine identity that is genuine, diverse, and growing in quality with every vintage. Three federally recognized AVAs — Warren Hills, Outer Coastal Plain, and Central Delaware Valley — give New Jersey formal wine appellation recognition that most people don't know exists.

Cape May Winery at the southern tip of New Jersey is the state's most visited producer and one of the most popular wine destinations in the Mid-Atlantic. America's oldest seaside resort town and a thriving winery are a natural combination, and Cape May's Victorian architecture, horseshoe crab beaches, and world-class birding create a wine tourism context that has few parallels anywhere. The Cabernet Franc and Merlot from the Outer Coastal Plain's sandy soils are the surprise: genuinely good wines from soils that resemble coastal Bordeaux more than most people would guess.

Northwestern New Jersey's Warren Hills AVA is the state's most dramatic wine country — the Kittatinny Ridge and Delaware Water Gap highlands, cool mountain soils, and a landscape that looks more like Vermont than New Jersey. Several producers here are making Cabernet Franc and Merlot of real distinction, and the proximity to New York City (90 minutes) makes the region a perfect weekend escape for the metropolitan wine curious.