A TUSCAN HEART IN HOPEWELL VALLEY
For Sergio Neri of Hopewell Valley Vineyards, winemaking is both science and art.
BY CARLO DEVITO • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSEPH CORRADO

Pennington, New Jersey, is a little piece of Americana. With its many Colonial-era clapboard houses and white picket fences, it’s the town Mr. Blandings always wanted to move to. On the outskirts of this small town born during America’s Revolution lies a little slice of Tuscany.

When I first visited Hopewell Valley Vineyards many years ago, the first thing I did was to look at the vineyards. It’s impossible to miss them. They are immaculate. They are meticulous. The vineyard blocks dominate the landscape. As you enter the winery, large trellises surround you. The vineyard on the right-hand side seems to stretch to the horizon as you navigate your car down the gravel driveway. Everything is well appointed and well maintained. Everything is lined up nice and neat.

Another thing that strikes the visitor is the crushed shale sprinkled along the rows of vines. The shale— originally in the form of a rocky layer under the surface soil that had to be broken up before planting—has clearly been placed there with deliberation by someone who had a strong notion of why. As in many vineyards of France and Italy, these stones act as a natural thermal regulator. Soaking up the heat from the sun’s rays, they bake off any lingering humidity during the day, and at night the retained heat keeps the vineyard from getting too cool. It is an Old World technique.

Viewed from the deck of the Italianate winery building, or the Italian-style home nearby, the vineyard is a veritable sea of lush vegetation— large, sprawling blocks of well manicured, leafy vines. The plants are scrubbed of excess buds, shoots and leaves; they almost look like topiary. Someone put a lot of effort and love into creating this vineyard.

This is Sergio Neri’s vision. The owner of Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Neri is a third-generation grape grower and winemaker. He grew up in Lombardy, outside Milan, where he was schooled as an engineer. When he was young, his father owned a small winery called Val di Suga, in the Brunello region.

Today, he and his brother both run wineries. Sergio’s is here in Hopewell Valley, just off Route 31 in Hopewell Township, Mercer County; his brother Giorgio’s is in Tuscany,

Italy. The brothers remain very close. Sergio helps his brother in the small winery in the Chianti Classico region, traveling back and forth to Italy to see family and work with Giorgio. In fact, through Hopewell Valley, you can arrange to rent the guest cottage on Giorgio’s property in Tuscany.

“He’s an engineer. He took a lot of time to evaluate, to examine, to plan,” says Violetta, Sergio’s wife, of her husband’s vision for the vineyard. Sergio consulted the Rutgers Cooperative Extension folks before making a move. The winery is seeking Farmland Preservation Program status. Its 30-kilowatt solar-energy system powers the entire complex, including the house. Sergio is now in a position to sell excess power back to the grid. The 72-acre farm, which opened its doors to the public in 2003, has 22 acres now planted to viticulture. The vineyard is filled with such classic vinifera as Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Nero and Barbera (well known in the Piedmont region of Italy). Sergio also grows such ubiquitous New Jersey favorites as Chambourcin, Vidal and Traminette. He plans to plant 20 more acres within the next few years.

“Great wines are born in the vineyard but are raised in the winery,” says Sergio. “Quality grapes along with quality winemaking techniques are the key to great wines. That’s why we are deeply committed to growing our own fruit.”

“I think wine is a very mystical, very particular sensorial experience,” says Sergio. “It’s kind of like having gourmet food. It’s interesting for our minds and our bodies, and also there’s a social aspect. It’s a science and an art at the same time.”

Violetta and Sergio live and work at the winery. They’re both there all day. She jokingly says she’s the apprentice winemaker. “Sergio spends his whole day at the winery. If he’s gone, he’ll be back in five minutes,” chuckles Violetta.

The couple met 15 years ago. Violetta, once a local real estate agent, sold him a farm; their romance blossomed much later on. Between them they have four children (three grown and moved on) and three mutts—Baco, Maya and Hunter.

There is a lot of Old World at Hopewell Valley. As one enters the tasting room for the first time, one gets the sense that this is also where the Old World meets the New. The dark stone floors are contrasted by shiny copper pipes that hold hundreds of bottles of wine in place, and the copper bar calls out, with all its nuances, of rustic charm.  Originally the room behind the tasting room, lined with a big glass window, was the winemaking room, filled with tanks and hoses.  But over the years, prosperity came to Hopewell Valley, and a bigger winemaking facility was needed. Thus was born a much larger addition to the building structure, and the winemaking area was transformed into a large, beautiful tasting and hospitality room.

The beauty here goes much deeper than the surface. Lest anyone suspect otherwise, Sergio knows how to make wine. From 2003 to 2010, Hopewell Valley Vineyards has taken home at least one medal from every competition it has entered, and in some cases, many, many more. In the 2009 New Jersey Wine Competition, Hopewell Valley’s 2006 Chambourcin won the coveted top prize, the Governor’s Cup. The same wine won medals for Grape, Best Hybrid, and Best Estate Wine. The wine won four other medals in competitions, including two golds (one at a Finger Lakes competition).

“It’s something that goes from seed to bottle. Every stage is important.  It’s all interrelated and sequential,” said Violetta. “It’s a handson process every step of the way.”

Estate wines are where the Neris excel. Their Chambourcin and their Barbera are among the best that New Jersey and the East Coast have to offer. A medium-bodied, dry red wine, the Chambourcin, made from a winter-hardy French-American hybrid that performs particularly well in the mid-Atlantic’s cold winters and hot, humid summers, is brimming with cherries, plums and raspberries. It is approachable and scrumptious. And, with its tannins and acids, there is still a solid backbone to it. This is an elegant wine. It speaks of the love, care and affection the vine gets at Sergio’s attentive hands.

Barbera is a grape that originated in northern Italy and that Sergio is growing here. The cherries in this wine are more pronounced than in the Chambourcin, and the raspberries that come across seem to be both bright and dark. The oak aging comes across with the whiff of vanilla. The finish is long and luxurious. This is a very nice wine, with structure, tannins and acids all well balanced, and the fruit flavors linger in your mouth for some time.

“We both like to cook a lot. We cook a lot of Greek and Italian food. It’s a good way to spend time together,” says Violetta, who is Greek. “Sergio has a broad palate, and likes to try lots of wines.” Violetta admits to being devoted to only reds. They have tasted at wineries on the East Coast, California and, of course, Italy.

The wines are available at the winery, as well as at numerous restaurants and liquor stores. A few local places include Camillo’s Cafe in Princeton, Nick’s Cafe 72 in Ewing, and Leonardo’s II in Lawrence.Wegmans offers a very wide selection of their wines as does Valley Wine and Spirits in Pennington, among others.

They sell many of their 50,000 bottles per year through the tasting room. “People like coming here,” says Violetta. “Many come back again and again. We’re like their extended family. They come to enjoy a glass of fine wine in the beautiful surroundings and relax.” n

Hopewell Valley Vineyards
46 Yard Road, Pennington
609-737-4465

www.hopewellvalleyvineyards.com

Open seven days a week from noon to 5 pm.