By Jake Rallo
When people think of American wine regions, New Jersey rarely comes to mind. California, Oregon and Washington dominate the conversation, with Virginia, Texas and New York trailing behind. New Jersey has never really entered the conversation at all, despite having about 51 operating wineries across the state.
A Hardy Grape Vine
To understand whether good wine can be made in New Jersey, we first need to understand where grapes like to grow, along with some of the setbacks the state’s wine industry has faced.
First things first: When we talk about wine, we’re typically talking about the Vitis vinifera grape species. Commonly known as European grape vines, they account for nearly 90% of the grapes cultivated worldwide. Chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, riesling, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir are all vinifera varieties.
Some vinifera varieties are grown as table grapes, too (Thompson seedless and Red Globe, for example), but that’s less common. Vitis labrusca and other native North American varieties, by contrast, make up most of the table grapes you’ll find at the grocery store. Because these varieties evolved in the wild, they’re far more resilient to harsh climates and far less susceptible to disease and pests.
Vitis vinifera grapes are the opposite – finicky, particular about climate and vulnerable to disease and pests.
Disease and pests may not be the most glamorous subjects, but they’re important when we discuss grape growing. Unlike North American varieties, Vitis vinifera has long been and still is, vulnerable to a persistent pest called phylloxera, a tiny louse that feeds on the roots of the plant and eventually kills it. In the mid-to-late 1800s, phylloxera took a devastating toll on the European wine industry after it was accidentally imported to the continent on North American vine cuttings, decimating vineyards and wiping out nearly 70% of French vineyards by the turn of the century. North American varieties, on the other hand, are naturally resistant to phylloxera because the louse originated in North America and the vines evolved alongside it. That resistance sounds like great news for American growers, but North American varieties were never the preferred choice for winemaking.
Why does this all matter? If North American rootstock was resistant to phylloxera but European vinifera was not, how could the two be combined to create a resistant plant that still produced quality fruit for winemaking? Viticulturists found the answer in grafting: European vinifera vines are grafted onto phylloxera-resistant North American rootstock, producing plants with the fruit quality of European grapes and the resistant root systems of native varieties. This grafting technique essentially saved the European wine industry and remains standard practice worldwide today.
This history matters because it reflects the same underlying logic hybrid grapes like those grown in Monmouth County use: combining the fruit quality of European vinifera with the resilience of North American vines. All this to say, North American varieties are incredibly important to the wine world, despite their general inability to produce quality grapes for winemaking on their own.
How Does Your Grape
Vine Grow?
Now that we understand not all grapes are created equal, it’s worth looking at the conditions Vitis vinifera needs to grow. This isn’t a simple answer, since different grapes thrive in different environments and are planted based on a region’s climate and the expertise of its viticulturists and winemakers. It’s why riesling and cabernet franc grow well in the cool climate of New York’s Finger Lakes region, while chardonnay thrives in the Mediterranean climate of Sonoma County, California.
Vitis vinifera generally grows best between 30° and 50° latitude in both hemispheres, the so-called “wine belt.” This band gives vines enough warmth to ripen fruit without losing their acidity too quickly. Vines also need a frost-free growing season of roughly 165 to 200 days to produce fully ripe grapes. The amount of heat that accumulates over that season determines which grapes can ripen in a given region; cooler regions suit early-ripening grapes like riesling or pinot noir, while warmer ones suit cabernet sauvignon or syrah.
Wine grapes also prefer moderate water stress, since too much rain, especially near harvest, dilutes flavor and invites rot. Well-drained soils, often gravelly, sandy or rocky rather than rich and fertile, tend to produce better fruit as well, forcing vines to work harder for water and nutrients. Extreme cold during winter months can kill vines outright and humidity, especially combined with warm temperatures, encourages the fungal diseases that are one of vinifera’s biggest vulnerabilities.
This last point is a real challenge in a place like New Jersey and it’s a big reason vineyard site selection, canopy management and airflow matter so much in humid eastern climates.
Monmouth County’s coastal location gives it a fairly grape-friendly climate for Vitis vinifera; winters are typically moderate, the growing season runs a solid 180 to 200 frost-free days and much of the soil is sandy, loamy and well-drained, all conditions vinifera generally favors. The tradeoff is humidity. The same ocean influence that moderates temperatures also keeps moisture levels high, raising the risk of fungal disease.
So it’s not that grapes can’t be grown in New Jersey for wine; it’s just not the state a viticulturist would pick first.
Laws and Restrictions
Is climate the only reason good wine may or may not be made in New Jersey? No. A few other factors have shaped the evolution of grape growing in the state. First, there’s the law: post-Prohibition restrictions limited the state to one winery license per million residents, strict regulations that made it nearly impossible to open a winery in New Jersey. The Farm Winery Act of 1981 lifted those restrictions. Second is the availability and cost of land. Large tracts weren’t set aside for wine growing early in New Jersey’s history, so much of the land was sold off for real estate development instead, a real barrier to entry for winemaking. No land, no grapes, no wine.
Wineries Making it Work
John and Janet Giunco own 4JG’s Winery in Colts Neck, a historic farming area of Monmouth County. The Giunco family founded the winery in 1999, but it continues a 300-year farming history on the property.
John is no stranger to farming. He grew up on Twin Lakes Orchards in Freehold Township, where his family grew 600 acres of apple trees and 100 acres of peaches. His father studied agriculture at Rutgers, which you could argue was the start of the family’s foray into farming. Twin Lakes Orchards would go on to become the fourth-largest apple producer in the state.
Although John didn’t make farming his primary career (he’s also a lawyer), he stayed connected to the industry through his wife, whose passion for wine led the couple to convert a farm property in Colts Neck into a vineyard. Janet’s background was in sales and marketing at IBM, where she worked for over two decades. Her job led to frequent trips to California to showcase IBM products to customers. Even a trip built around a product showcase left room for a little fun and Janet would bring customers to Sonoma County to explore the wine region. There, her passion for wine grew, which ultimately led to the creation of 4JG’s.
4JG’s first vintage came in 2002, the result of the original 8,000 vines they’d planted. That first vintage became known as Chambourcin Riserva, which won the gold award at the New Jersey Wine Competition in 2004. Today the winery has grown considerably, with over 35,000 vines across 40 acres and a diverse lineup of wines crafted by winemaker and advanced sommelier Craig Donofrio.
The winery produces a mix of classic European varieties and French-American hybrids, including chardonnay, cabernet franc, vidal blanc, cayuga white and chambourcin.
Hybrid grapes are created by crossing different varieties to produce specific qualities that growers and winemakers value. Disease resistance and cold hardiness are often the goal and both are built into vidal blanc, cayuga white and chambourcin, qualities that matter enormously for growing in New Jersey.
John agreed that moisture is, in fact, the primary climatic hurdle for growing grapes in New Jersey. It isn’t a reason to be discouraged, but it is a major factor; one that shapes what grapes you can grow, how the vines are trimmed and maintained and what other practices are required to prevent mildew.
The unfortunate truth of farming is that you’re susceptible to climate conditions, especially as they shift from year to year. This year, the climate wasn’t favorable for grape growing in New Jersey, or for agriculture generally. Heavy frost in April damaged most of the vines beyond recovery and the damage may be severe enough to put the 2027 harvest in jeopardy as well.
This brings us back to our initial question: Can good wine be made in New Jersey? Even in a rough year like this one, the answer is yes. The history of 4JG’s, the growing number of winery licenses across the state (now over 60) and growers’ increasing reliance on hardy hybrid grapes all make the case.
Today you can visit 4JG’s on weekends from April to Christmas, where you can taste their wines on the property and bring a bottle home to enjoy. If you haven’t visited the winery yet, don’t worry, you still have time. Enjoy a glass as summer turns to autumn or pick out your Christmas tree and sip a glass while your tree gets cut!
The article originally appeared in the September 24 – 30, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
