Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: The Results
Since I started at Unionville 5 years ago, it has always been a goal to have our wines evaluated by top critics. In the years since, John Foy at the Star-Ledger has called our wines "Napa worthy," and Stuart Pigott, who freelances for James Suckling and Wine Business Monthly wrote that our Syrah was the best expression of the grape in the United States. T.J. Foderaro at Inside Jersey Magazine, Alan Richman (Saveur), Robin Shreeves (Cherry Hill Courier-Post), Rosie Saferstein (NJ Monthly), and the Trenton Times' Susan Yeske have all added their voices to the coalition of the willing in the last couple of years.
Having Unionville in the pages of one of the major wine magazines had remained elusive, until last summer when Mark Squires, East Coast wine critic for the Wine Advocate sat down and tasted nearly 30 wines from the wineries that make up The Winemakers Co-Op. Unionville showed well with a respectable average score of 87 points. We wanted more, and this year, we earned it.
Three Unionville wines earned 89 points, two scored 88 points, and our new vintage of The Big O turned out a respectable 87. On the Wine Advocate scale, these wines all qualify as "very good, displaying finesse, flavor, and character." That sounds right to me.
If you've been following our blog posts over the last year, you know that there has been a strong re-commitment to growing the best fruit possible in 2017. We're on the cusp of a fabulous harvest, thanks to an extended period of warm and dry weather in late August and September. We've dodged the hurricanes, and the finish line to an excellent vintage is in sight. I'm sure that we will continue to elevate our wines, and cross the threshold into 90 point regularity very soon. In the mean time, high 80s for an east coast winery in one of the big publications is something to be proud of, and we are.
-John Cifelli, General Manager
The Wine Advocate Tasting, Summer 2017
Mark Squires, Reviewer
- 2016 Hunterdon Mistral Rose' - 89 points
- 2015 'Pheasant Hill Vineyard' Chardonnay - 89 points (released 2018)
- 2015 'Pheasant Hill Vineyard' Pinot Noir - 89 points (released Nov. 2017)
- 2013 'Pheasant Hill Vineyard' Syrah - 88 points
- 2014 'Mountain Road Vineyard' Chardonnay - 88 points
- 2013 'The Big O' Bordeaux-style blend - 87 points
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Amy klein
September 03, 2018
Would you ship us a case of the 2017 mistral rose?