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Delaware wineries join in regional effort

Nichole Dobo
The News Journal

Wineries in Delaware are joining a partnership with Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to launch a cooperative named the Vintage Atlantic Wine Region.

The effort, announced Thursday afternoon at Harvest Ridge Winery in Marydel, Delaware, will bring a joint marketing effort to support about 55 wineries in the region. The idea is modeled after successful wine regions, such as in northern New York and Napa Valley.

Supporters of it from these states say it is an economic development opportunity, as visitors will stay in hotels, eat at local restaurants as they travel through the region to visit wineries. The marketing effort crosses state borders, bringing a level of coordination meant to help wineries build this region as a destination for wine-lovers.

"This is going to be huge," said Chuck Nunan, owner of Harvest Ridge.

A new website, www.vintage atlanticwine.com, offers a map and more details about the effort. The states involved are Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Vintage Atlantic Wine Region includes the area surrounding the Delaware Bay, the southern Delaware River and the Philadelphia metro region.

A wine region needs to include fine wine-making and a "critical mass" of them, said Scott Donnini, of Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery. That is the kind of thing that draws tourists to visit the Finger Lakes, for example. When a group of people in the industry locally sat down, and looked at the map, they realized they had a stronger pull if they cooperated across the lines.

"There's an awful lot of wineries here, and there's an awful lot going on," Donnini said.

Chris Byrnes pours a box of freshly picked Chardonnay grapes in a tractor Thursday at Harvest Ridge Winery near Marydel.

In Marydel, the Harvest Ridge Winery opened an event space and tasting room last November. A party planned for the weekend is expected to draw more than 1,000 people. These are working farms, and small businesses, and they add to the region's economy, Nunan said.

Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee praised the multi-state cooperation and noted Delaware's main agricultural industry started small.

"Ninety years ago we had one lady who started selling chickens for meat," he said, "and now we have a $90 million industry."

Contact staff writer Nichole Dobo at (302) 324-2281 or ndobo@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @NicholeDobo.

Chuck Nunan, owner of Harvest Ridge Winery, speaks at his winery during the announcement to bring a joint marketing effort to support about 55 wineries in the region.