VUE

There is one wine that truly shines out above the rest in the Unionville collection and that is the single-vineyard Pheasant Hill Vineyard Chardonnay, their flagship white. While Unionville is able to blend grapes and wines from different locations in order to add unique concoctions to their portfolio, they also, in special years, keep the lots separate after picking to create their hallmark single-vineyard bottlings. In what Cifelli deems "the best years," Unionville is able to separate the various Chardonnay from the different vineyards, (Home Vineyard, Coventry and Pheasant Hill) and create three distinctly different expressions of Chardonnay. While the Pheasant Hill Vineyard Chardonnay specifically boasts flavors of sweet Meyer lemon and a nose of coconut oil, each single-vineyard Chardonnay has its own body and taste. Cifelli proudly shares that "we hang our hats on our Chardonnay and at any given time you can find four of five expressions of Chardonnay in our tasting room." Three different Chardonnays from three different locations are offered in the tasting room showcasing how subtle differences in soil, soil composition, weather and climate result in different and dynamic variations of Chardonnay. Cifelli explains that visitors can truly "taste the distinction, which is really driven by the land itself," since the farming practices across the locations are consistent, the picking dates fall relatively close to each other, and the fermentation practices, oak program, types of barrels and amount of time spent in the oak are similar. Unionville tends not to pay too much heed to commercial competitions and ratings, instead they prefer to get their wines in front of real critics. And the critics love them. Their wines have been scored and highly rated in The Wine Advocate, which is arguably the most important wine publication in the United States. They have also been reviewed by Wine Enthusiast and named one of the top 500 wineries by Food & Wine Magazine. There is a reason that Unionville has been heralded as one of New Jersey's best vineyards. Boasting the only Wine Advocate 90-point red wine to be scored from New Jersey for their Pinot Noir, Unionville also proudly presents numerous Chardonnay, Syrah, and Rosé wines which have received scores in the high 80's and above. V U E N J .C O M 53

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