Tasted some that actually tasted like tomatoes…
Could they have mistaken them for grapes (after all, NJ is famous for tomatoes)
Wait, thought New York State was the next Napa? Paso Robles? Santa Barbara? Texas for sure is, even when they had only 30 wineries. Arizona. Wait, New Mexico makes some good sparklers, maybe they are the next Napa!
I frankly found it incredible to see wines from NJ priced at $70 or above. How do they plan to sell that to consumers?
There is a story about British champagne (which has been coming back). Customer in Brit wine store is asked if he’d like to try some. “No thanks” is the reply. “It’s £50 a bottle”. “Oh well then I’ll buy one”.
Well, Mark… I would reject the idea that a wine from NJ (or NM or Texas or Idaho or Colorado or Arizona) cannot sell for big $$'s
simply because it’s not from the NapaVlly or Calif. Just because a wine comes from a “lesser” growing area doesn’t mean that
it cannot, a priori, be a “great” wine and priced accordingly. One would hope the grower of this $70 NJ Cab would have tasted
some great NapaVlly Cabs or RedBdx and felt his was every bit as good as some of those $100+ wines.
Alas, though, that doesn’t seem to happen too often in reality. Oftentimes, the quality is simply not there. Oftentimes,
the wnry owner is on an ego trip and wants to be known as selling the State’s most expensive wine. Fortunately, the
marketplace has a way of making its opinions as to quality known and the guy winds up sitting on a truckload of unsold $70
NJ Cab. Ask the folks at KlugeEstate.
Tom
I have never been to Silver Decoy but did buy a fair amount of good wine at Carduner’s when Mark Carduner was there. That cellar was a constant 55 degrees and chock full of goodies if you said the secret words to run amok down there.
Went to Silver Decoy this afternoon to try some of their wines. The whites did not thrill me, the only o e approachable was the Riesling. The reds on the other hand have a lot going for them with the Cabernet Franc the stand out with a long finish. If tasted blind, I would put this up against many California wines.
We’re back at the shore 3rd week of July so I’ll hunt down some other wineries. Guys at Silver Decoy were helpful before, may ring them up for recommendations.
Looks like Alba, Tomesello, and Heritage are the target wineries. Especially if the tuna fishing gets blown out by the hurricane.
Look up Turdo Vineyards and Hawk Haven.
I’m from New Jersey originally… fuhgetaboutit
Did make the roadtrip in 100 degree heat and 90 percent humidity from the shore to western NJ to visit Alba. Really great stuff, I’ll get my notes up in the next week.
Brigger, I want the notes made with a NJ accent, please.
Oddly enough I was at the Kluge estate several weeks back and tasted through their wines. For the price point, it was the best wine we tasted that day out of 4 wineries. Nothing special, but good drinking wine for 20 bucks. The sparklings were especially nice for the price I thought.
First of all, it’s NEW Jersey!!! Secondly, there are some nice wineries here, but it doesn’t stay warm enough long enough to make any serious challenge to anyone. It snowed 6" here two Octobers ago. Unionville is probably the best. Nice Riesling. Hopewell Valley is ok. Zonin owns them I think and they have a winemaker from Italy working there now. Decent Barbera if I recall.
Silver Decoy website said they’re changing their name, odd.
NEW JERSEY WINE TRAIL - ALBA VINEYARD - Finesville, New Jersey (7/20/2013)
Our quest continues to find the best wineries in the state of New Jersey. Yeah, that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to most people but if you look long and hard enough you’ll find a few worth seeking out. After researching a few of the wineries it seems Alba Vineyard was always at the top of the list so we rallied the troops which included Dan, Mike, Tathiana, Lutman, Cathy, and Chris for the road trip.
We decided to rendezvous on the parkway and piled into two cars after taking off from the Jersey shore for the 1 hour drive in 95 degree temperatures and 90 percent humidity. It’s was stifling to say the least so the air conditioner was running non stop.
There were two things everybody agreed on. First, the drive through the countryside of Western New Jersey is extremely beautiful; rolling hills through the farmland of corn fields bordered by narrow bridges and shallow rivers. Also, I really enjoyed all the beautifully maintained old farm houses constructed from stone gathered from the fields.
As we rolled into the parking lot of the winery which was a former dairy farm, it looks like it could be any place in wine country in California. The tasting room itself is the bottom level of a 200 year old barn surrounded by the foundation of hand laid stone. The winery started up in 1980 after the dairy operation closed in '78. As far as tasting rooms go, its a decent size and there’s a back room which is significantly larger to hold tasting events. The seven of us showed up unannounced to an empty room and promptly got down to business.
The vineyard which grows the estate fruit is located right behind the winery up the hill and overlooking the small valley. Seems like only a third of the property is actually planted to vine so the opportunity to expand production based on estate fruit is fairly significant. Alba does produce wines with grapes from out of the country such as Argentina for the Malbec and bottles it under the Chelsea designation.
Whites
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NV Alba Vineyard Mainsail White - USA, New Jersey
Like a lot of the whites from Alba, they are very light in color. That probably has to do with the fact that I’m unfamiliar with most of the white varieties. This is blended from three varieties, Vidal Blanc, Cayuga White, and Riesling. Aroma reminds me of a Sauvignon Blanc with a touch of petrol which must be the Riesling peeking out. Flavors are ripe green apple, and tart pear. Medium acidity and this shows on the finish with a tangy note. Extremely nice wine and super QPR at $10. (88 pts.) -
2011 Alba Vineyard Riesling Dry - USA, New Jersey
Very light color. Nice perfume nose with jasmine flower. Palate is light pear and smooth mouthfeel. Residual sugar is less than 1% and the finish is clipped. (86 pts.) -
2012 Alba Vineyard Gewürztraminer - USA, New Jersey
Excellent wine and its won a few awards, rightfully so IMHO. Lightest color of the whites, barely anything in the lighting of the tasting room. The nose on this wine is off the charts, juniper berry, sage, and pear which engulfs your head. Palate is a blend of sweet tree fruit with a silky mouthfeel and medium finish. Dynamite juice. (91 pts.) -
2012 Alba Vineyard Riesling Alba Estate Vineyard - USA, New Jersey
Faint yellow color. Aromas of very sweet pear and some hay. Flavor profile is driven by tree fruit and the 4% residual sugar. Interestingly the mouthfeel isn’t heavy, there’s a softness to it. (89 pts.)
Reds
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NV Alba Vineyard Old Mill Red - USA, New Jersey
Wow, between this red wine and the white mainsail Alba has you covered for the weekday quaffers, both are excellent wines at a terrific price. I’m not sure what the varieties are but guessing chambourcin and Syrah. Medium dark garnet color. Nose has lots of cinnamon and cherry. Palate is spice driven with black pepper and cinnamon followed by cherry and chambord. Medium finish and firm tannins at this point so a year in the cellar will help. (88 pts.) -
2010 Alba Vineyard Pinot Noir Alba Estate Vineyard - USA, New Jersey
Jersey pinot? Yep. What’s fascinating is this wine is made much in the style of burgundy and since the vineyard is loaded with limestone they have a good start. Medium garnet color. A little barnyard on the nose just like the old world. Palate is light weight and light cherry flavor. Finish is medium/- heading towards short. While I didn’t score this very high, it definitely shows the promise of the vineyard to produce something very special regardless of its unusual location for Pinot noir. (87 pts.) -
2010 Alba Vineyard Chambourcin Alba Estate Vineyard - USA, New Jersey
I’ve had chambourcin a few times before and wasn’t really impressed but this is the best I tasted. Very dark color. As with chambourcin, there is the distinct cherry flavor on the nose. Palate is a big blast of cherry and acid adds a tartness. Finish is soft, tannins are integrated, and a touch of spice. (88 pts.) -
2010 Alba Vineyard Heritage Alba Estate Vineyard - USA, New Jersey
It is Cabernet Franc by not labeled as such. No idea why. Dark plum color. Smells of black cherry. Palate tastes of cedar and dark berry. Very well balanced with drying tannins in a medium plus finish. I like this wine and I like CF which NJ seems to do fairly well in the hands of a good winemaker. (90 pts.) -
2009 Alba Vineyard Syrah Chelsea Cellars - USA, New Jersey
Very dark color. Nose shows a bit of rubbing alcohol. Palate is spicy pepper, dark berry, and a bite of tobacco. The finish is medium plus. Nice job on this one. BTW it is not really a Jersey wine, the fruit is sourced from Washington. (90 pts.) -
2009 Chelsea Cellars Malbec Voyager - Argentina
Aromas are muted but the palate is a big spicy blackberry combination. Plenty of structure here as this wine still shows young. Excellent medium plus finish. (87 pts.)
Miscellaneous
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2011 Alba Vineyard Chelsea Dry Rose - USA, New Jersey
Great tasting solid rose, we grabbed 4 bottles of this to beat the heat. Made in the style of southern Rhone with light strawberry and watermelon combined with an earthy taste. (89 pts.) -
NV Alba Vineyard Chelsea Cellars Rosa - USA, New Jersey
Not my style, this is a takeoff on white zinfandel from California which set the world of wine back a decade.
I’m a strong believer that the person working in the tasting room is equally as important as the wine in the overall experience. We’ve all tasted great wines served by a jerk, it’s just not fun, I don’t care how fantastic the wines show. Below is Sarah and she was fantastic. She knows the Alba wines, winery history, and a very solid understanding of wine in general. You’ll hear some crazy things said by the people working in a tasting room and normally I just grin and bare it, but in this case, as Sarah was speaking while pouring the flights I found myself nodding my head in agreement to the color commentary she interjected. Definitely value added to the experience.
The only real knock is we paid $10 per person for a total of $70 and bought a case and a half of wine. No credit for the tasting fee and an 8 percent discount for case purchases (odd that they picked 8%, not 10%) but we had to pool the wines into a single purchase for the discount. Really? Just give everybody the discount and make it easy for all involved.
Bottom Line: Alba Vineyard is making very good wines at reasonable prices and the tasting room is a must visit for the cork dorks on the east coast.
Posted from CellarTracker
Wow great notes, thanks. It’s now on the radar, will visit soon.
Definitely give it a go, nice stuff. Report back in.
BtW they have a nice picnic area.
And the new name is Working Dog Winery. Even more odd. ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}