Recommendation: “OK” New Jersey red; VERY NICE tasting experience.
Winery/Producer: Mount Salem Vineyards; Pittstown, New Jersey.
Grape Variety: Zweigelt.
Geographic Region, Appellation: Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Vintage: 2015
Price: $28.00
Purchased From: The Mount Salem Vineyards; Pittstown, New Jersey.
Paired With: Roast beef, roasted vegetables and onion pie.
Tasting:
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He said: Opened 30-minutes before drinking. Clear, dark ruby color with a lighter rim. Light fruit aromas…nothing objectionable and actually a pretty nice overall bouquet. Smooth, fairly light body, lots of acidity and quite persistent dry fruit taste with a STRONG underlying sour cherry flavor. All this continues through a medium length finish. It needs to be said right up front that small local vineyard produced wines are notoriously poor, expensive and unfortunately they start out with two strikes on my first taste. This one turned out to be OK…and that says a lot!!! This wine has many things going for it…it’s very drinkable, not sweet and if it weren’t for the sour cherry in the taste I’d probably be raving over it. As expected, it was very different from Zweigelt we’ve had from Austria and Germany; however since it’s our first local Hunterdon County wine we’re reviewing I’ll say it’s “OK” New Jersey red.
Visit to the Mount Salem Vineyards

John, our tasting guide
She said: Opaque, dark ruby red color. Many rapidly moving legs. A sour cherry aroma and flavor are accompanied by a funkiness that persist into the first half of the long finish. The mouth feel was dry, medium bodied and smooth. I didn’t care for the funky aroma and taste and don’t remember it being so prevalent at the tasting. I wouldn’t buy this Zweigelt again.
Visit to the Mount Salem Vineyards

Mount Salem Vineyards tasting room

Mount Salem vineyard master Agnieszka harvesting grapes
Alcohol: 12.5%
UPC Code: NA
Imported by: NA
Photo from Mount Salem Vineyards.