Local Wine Belongs at the Farm Market
Why Local Wine Belongs at the Farm Market
Robson’s Farm grows fruits and vegetables. Brick Farm Market bakes delicious breads. Tre Piani makes mozzarella.
Unionville Vineyards produces wine.
What could be simpler than bread, cheese, and wine? What could be more delicious? In the height of farm market season, when the tomatoes are ripe, red, and juicy, making dinner just gets so much easier. Even early in the season, with local greens and strawberries, salads are simple and delicious. And have you tried kohlrabi? Try it.
The local winery belongs at markets alongside the farm, bakery, and dairy. Wine is meant to be paired with food (ask Andrew at the Unionville stand for some recommendations – you’re sure to leave hungry). Our wine is meant to be consumed with friends and family over shared meals.
And our wine belongs at your local farm market.
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We are farmers. Unionville manages 54 acres of vineyard.
We take great pride in using responsible agricultural management practices. We use models to minimize pesticide applications, and we employ preventative cultural practices. Currently, we are working with the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) on a trial of Italian varieties and also with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to monitor grapevine pests. NJAES also installed a weather station at our site. Data gathered from this station will be useful not only to Unionville, but to all in the industry.
Furthermore, Unionville is a proud member of the NJ Farmers' Direct Marketing Association. We sell most of our wines directly to you, the consumer. Check out our profile on the visit NJ Farms website. - We are foodies. We love food. We love talking about food. We love cooking and often use our own wines! TIP: The red wines are great for marinating meats (or tempeh, a vegetarian alternative).
- We are interested in teaching people about where wine comes from and how it is made. Our Single Vineyard series in particular showcases local terroir. Grapes used in making any one of these wines are sourced from a single site, allowing for an exquisite expression of the local environment. Our winemaker works his magic in making truly creative and delicious blends.
Unionville wines are artisan and hand-crafted, truly reflective of local people and place. We love interacting with customers, as well as fellow farmers and foodies, at farm markets throughout the state.
Wondering where you can find us this season? Check out our Farmers Markets page.
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Also in Unionville Grapevine
Meet Rachael White, Unionville's New Vineyard Manager
My name is Rachael White, and I am the new vineyard manager at Unionville Vineyards. I am thrilled to be part of the team and produce exceptional grapes for exquisite wine. I’m eager to begin this role and I wanted to introduce myself to share a little of my background.
I became interested in grape production right out of high school while working at my local research and extension center with the viticulture team. Little did I know when I started that viticulture would become my passion and career going forward. I got to work with industry famous people like Dr. Tony Wolf and Dr. Cain Hickey and interact with growers that were more than happy to share their joys and dismays about farming grapes. I fell in love with the seasonality and the fact I could always be outside! With a newfound purpose, I attended my first semester at Virginia Tech in the fall of 2013 and immediately focused my degree on wine grape production. I took every wine and vineyard related course offered at the time and enjoyed other horticulture courses along the way. I studied
abroad in Cortona, Italy where I learned old world wine tradition and began refining my palate.
I finished my Bachelor of Science degree in December of 2016 and looked to gain more knowledge from elsewhere in the world. I decided to work a vintage in the southern hemisphere and set my eyes on New Zealand. In March of 2017, I started work at a contract winery in the Marlborough region that produced Sauvignon Blanc, but also small batches of Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris. I worked on the “Red Team," and processed mostly Pinot Noir
in small orders for clients.
2019: Once in a Lifetime Vintage
What a difference a year can make. August 2018 through July 2019 was the second rainiest 12 month stretch in the recorded history of New Jersey weather. These records stretch back into the late 19th century, which gives context just to how wet that is. It's not easy growing wine grapes when it rains every other day from August through the end of harvest. As we slogged through a wet May and June, we were making preparations to endure another difficult season. A torrential thunderstorm on July 11th dropped over three inches of rain on most of our vineyards. Todd Wuerker, winemaker at Hawk Haven Vineyard said to me on the phone "it has to stop, it always evens out" and I scoffed at that idea. The weather today doesn't know what happened the day, week, or month before.
Todd was right! An atmospheric switch flipped in mid-July, and high pressure dominated the mid-Atlantic for the rest of the season. There were isolated thunderstorms to dodge through the rest of summer, and Unionville fared particularly well in this stretch. Over the 10 weeks of harvest, less than three inches of rain fell across our vineyards. We went from a historically wet stretch to historically dry, and it came just in the nick of time.
It's our 25th Anniversary and I'm not sure what to say
Today, we are picking the first grapes for what is Unionville's 27th harvest. Two years after the first grapes were picked and fermented, they were sold in the newly-opened tasting room- 25 years ago. Although I've been thinking about this moment for about a year, we've started our anniversary celebration and I'm still struggling to put it all in context.
In the past few years I've learned so much that could be shared with you now. I've spent hours at the township building, reading through letters written back and forth between parties involved in the winery's founding in the early 1990's. I've walked the vineyards, pausing with each "King of the Vineyard" as Conor calls them- the craggy, gnarly vines nearly as old as me. I've stared at the black and white photos in the hallway of the 1858 Farmhouse of the family and workers who tended to this property many decades ago.
© 2021 Unionville Vineyards.
