Jersey Fresh promotes Jersey wines

In a continuing effort to promote the Garden State's wine and wineries, the Jersey Fresh Wine Promotional program will feature a new "toolbox" on the Find Jersey Fresh website.

Thomas Beaver, director of marketing and development at the state Department of Agriculture, says the website feature will help reveal a lot about New Jersey's exploding wine industry in order "to really start telling the story about the growth of the industry and also the incredible quality of the wines that are being produced now."

Wineries have sprung up all over the Garden State in an industry that has grown 40 percent in five years.

"Our wineries are really doing very different things at their 50 tasting rooms and their multiple retail outlets across the state," he said.

"We encourage consumers certainly to visit that website, if they are trying to find a winery to visit on a Saturday — or any day of the week, for that matter. Or if they want to hit as many wineries as they can throughout the Garden State.

"And looking forward, we are going to continue to add unique content to the website, specific to New Jersey's wine industry, really highlighting the myriad ways New Jersey wines can compliment a meal."

New Jersey has four distinct American viticultural areas. An American viticultural area designation says that the area where the wine is being produced has unique characteristics in terms of soil and climate.

Central Delaware Valley: Designated in 1984 and located in Central Jersey and shared with Southeastern PA along the Delaware River just north of Philadelphia.

Warren Hills: Designated in 1988 and located in Warren County.

Outer Coastal Plain: Designated in 2007. Includes all of Cumberland, Cape May, Atlantic and Ocean counties.

Cape May Peninsula: Designated in 2018 and includes part Cape May and Cumberland Counties.