Ventimiglia Vineyard ~ Wantage, New Jersey

June 30, 2009 by MTB

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer Ventimiglia Vineyard / Photo: Marguerite Barrett

On the last Sunday in May, I headed down to northeastern New Jersey to join my cousin and his family in celebrating his son Geoff’s Induction into the Eagle Scout Court of Honor – a tremendous accomplishment!

The event wasn’t scheduled to start until 4:00 pm, so I decided to take a slight detour off the Connecticut Wine Trail, and head down early in order to check out a winery or two before the ceremony. This plan also saved me from the dreaded New Jersey traffic curse, which can be summed up as: if you have to be anywhere in New Jersey at a specific time, then it’s a dead certainty that there will be at least one accident on the Tappan Zee, a backup heading into the George Washington Bridge, and the tunnels will have collapsed, resulting in a 2 – 2.5 hour trip taking at least 4! On the flip side, if you have no set plans, traffic will be blessedly clear on whatever route you take, and you’ll sail into New Jersey with lots of time to spare!

Having learned the hard way never to tempt the traffic curse ~ and interested in discovering new wineries ~ I hit the road early and headed over to Ventimiglia Vineyard in the northwest corner of the state.

Ventimiglia is a family-owned winery founded and still run by the family patriarch, Gene Ventimiglia. Gene is, himself, a third-generation winemaker, having learned the craft from his grandfather, Eugenio Ventimiglia. All of the Ventimiglia wines are handcrafted and are aged in oak with “minimal chemical or mechanical intervention.” The wines are all aged in oak, and Gene and his sons carefully blend all the wines themselves.

The winery is set back from the main road, with the vineyards starting almost at the back door and extending up the hill behind the winery. In addition to the vineyards surrounding the winery, Ventimiglia also has acreage under cultivation throughout the surrounding area, including a vineyard directly across the street from Jon Bon Jovi’s house. Unfortunately, a tour of the winery doesn’t include a side-trip to view the other vineyards or their neighboring celebrities.

The winery is built into the side of the hill, so the wine pressing and storage rooms reap the benefits of lower temperatures and humidity from being underground. The Tasting Room, which sits at ground level directly above the wine pressing and storage rooms is charming ~ wood paneled with a long Tasting Bar across the back of the room. Along the walls are sketches of ballet costumes, drawn by Gene’s sister-in-law for the NY ballet companies.

After I finished the tasting, Gene very kindly offered to give me a tour of the wine rooms and took me downstairs to the “workshop.” There’s a large concrete pad outside the main door where the grapes are brought after harvesting. The pressing and fermentation is then done on site, in what is a surprisingly small space. While downstairs I was treated to a few barrel tastings, and a blending session. Gene regularly hosts blending classes, bringing people together to experiment with wine – discovering the difference that just adding a few drops of a different wine to an existing glass (or barrel) can make. It was a fascinating experience.

Gene Ventimiglia ~ Founder and Winemaker, Ventimiglia Vineyard

While the Ventimiglia wines were very good (and I will be talking about them in the next few posts), the absolute highlight of a visit to Ventimiglia is Gene. He has an absolute passion for wine which comes across in the stories he tells, his enthusiasm, and the joy he so obviously gets from talking to the people who stop by. He’s as interested in hearing your stories as he is in telling you his, and is extremely knowledgeable about the regional wines. When I mentioned I was from Connecticut, he asked me if I had visited Jerram Winery, as he is friends with Jim Jerram. From there, we talked about Connecticut wine vs. New Jersey wine vs. Long Island wine. It was an absolutely delightful afternoon, and if you’re interested in exploring New Jersey wines, Ventimiglia should definitely be a stop on your list.