Under the radar, perhaps, but of equal interest to me, one of the competition's few East Coast judges, were surprising successes from the cranberry bogs of South Jersey, the slate-rich slopes of the Pennsylvania Alleghenies, and the searing-hot jalapeño pots of North Wales.
OK, before we continue: Yes, there is an actual winery in the suburban Montgomery County borough of North Wales, called Boyd's Cardinal Hollow; and there is such a thing as jalapeño wine, and it's not nearly so horrible as it sounds - owner Christopher Boyd's spicy effort took a silver medal in the "other" category, alongside other such eccentrics as "Skookumchuck," "Red Chocolate," and a class-winning green-chile wine from New Mexico.
True, the majority of the 5,050 wines here still came from the more familiar vineyards of California, and a fair portion were safe-bet chardonnay (600-plus). But if there's anything to be learned when the largest competition of American wines ever is assembled from 23 states to be blind-tasted by 60 professional judges, it is that the nation's wine scene, fueled by career-changers and a nation obsessed with all things locavore, is growing in every corner of the country, and in unexpected ways.
Pennsylvania has doubled its number of wineries to nearly 150 in just the last five years, according to Mark Chien, a viticulture educator for Pennsylvania State University's Cooperative Extension. In New Jersey, that number has grown from 12 to at least 40 during the last decade.
