page_title: New Jersey wine
section_title: Geography and climate
hierarchical_section_title: New Jersey wine / Geography and climate
caption_attribution_description: English: Original work 2007 by Jim Irwin. Bedrock GIS data from New Jersey Geological Survey. Digital Elevation data from NASA SRTM.
context_page_description: The production of wine in New Jersey has increased significantly in the last thirty years with the opening of new wineries. Beginning in 1981, the state legislature relaxed Prohibition-era restrictions and crafted new laws to facilitate the growth of the industry and provide new opportunities for winery licenses. Today, New Jersey wineries are crafting wines that have earned recognition for their quality from critics, industry leaders, and in national and international competitions. As of 2019, New Jersey currently has 51 licensed and operating wineries with several more prospective wineries in various stages of development.
  According to the United States Department of Agriculture's 2012 Census of Agriculture, the state's wineries and vineyards dedicated 1,082 acres to the cultivation of grapes. New Jersey wineries are growing Vitis vinifera, Vitis labrusca, or French hybrid wine grapes, and producing or offering for sale over eighty types of wines. In 2010, 1.72 million gallons of wine were produced by New Jersey wineries; making it the seventh largest wine-producing state in the United States.
context_section_description: New Jersey is a very geologically and geographically diverse region.  Most of the state has a humid mesothermal climate, and southern New Jersey has sandy soils and maritime climate affected by the Atlantic Ocean with longer growing seasons and more sun exposure than the north. Northern New Jersey, especially the northwestern regions of the state, experience a humid continental climate (microthermal)—a cooler climate due to its higher elevations in the mountainous and rocky terrain of the state's northwestern counties that are part of the Appalachian Mountains and the protected New York-New Jersey Highlands region. These northwestern regions of the state have colder winters and a shorter growing season that proves challenging to winegrowers who must consider this in their selecting cold-hardy varietals for cultivation, and in their viticultural practices. The state's five physiographic provinces offer a range of unique terroirs, climates and microclimates for vineyard production that is reflected in the essence of the wine.
caption: New Jersey's five physiographic provinces
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