New Jersey's wine country is a real, if young, industry, split cleanly between two ends of the state. In the northwest, the Warren Hills AVA (recognized in 1988) covers the hilly ground of Warren County, running from the Delaware River toward the Kittatinny Mountains on sandy loam, with a growing season of about 180 days. The larger story is in the south, where the Outer Coastal Plain AVA — 2.25 million acres across nine counties, established in 2007 — is warmed and lengthened by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay. Inside it sits the Cape May Peninsula AVA, added in 2018, which has the state's longest, most frost-free season. An older appellation, the Central Delaware Valley (1984), is shared with Pennsylvania and has no operating New Jersey wineries today.
Growers work vinifera and French-American hybrids side by side: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chambourcin lead the reds, Chardonnay and Vidal Blanc the whites. With roughly 50 to 60 wineries statewide, most visits are easy day trips from New York City or Philadelphia, organized loosely around the Two Bridges and Cape May wine trails. Harvest runs from late summer into October.
Unionville Vineyards
Unionville Vineyards is a collection of four farms with over 300 acres of preserved farmland operated by a group of local landowners, deeply committed to growing the finest grapes, preserving the pristine rural landscape, the ...
Explore Unionville Vineyards →Know the wines of New Jersey
Wineries to visit
Best time to visit New Jersey
At the 2012 “Judgment of Princeton,” New Jersey wines placed statistically on par with prestigious French Bordeaux and Burgundy benchmarks — a milestone for a state with more than 50 wineries and four AVAs, led by the Outer Coastal Plain (2007) and Cape May Peninsula (2018). Pair a tasting with the Cape May shore in the south or the Hunterdon County countryside near Princeton. The ocean-moderated growing season makes late summer and fall the natural window.
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Best Wineries to Visit in New Jersey (2026)
New Jersey’s wineries spread from the cool Hunterdon County hills in the north to the sandy Outer Coastal Plain and Cape May in the south:
- Unionville Vineyards (Ringoes) — known for estate Chardonnay and Bordeaux-style wines; first vines planted 1987, and a Judgment of Princeton entrant.
- William Heritage Winery (Mullica Hill) — a sustainably farmed Outer Coastal Plain estate known for sparkling wine and Bordeaux varieties.
- Beneduce Vineyards (Pittstown) — a fourth-generation family farm growing estate wines on a 77-acre sustainable property.
- Cape May Winery & Vineyard (Cape May) — a family winery in the Cape May Peninsula AVA, with daily flights and educational tastings.
New Jersey Wine Tours
New Jersey wine touring is largely self-drive along the Garden State’s north, central and south trails; organized, transport-provided tours are concentrated around Cape May, and South Jersey’s Outer Coastal Plain wineries make an easy day trip from Philadelphia (Hunterdon County from the New York metro).