New Jersey winemakers are popping corks in celebration after Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill Jan. 17 that would permit direct shipping of wine to consumers.

“To us, it’s not just the direct shipping bill. To us it’s the save New Jersey wineries bill,” said Todd Wuerker, who operates Hawk Haven Vineyards with his wife, Kenna.

The vineyard occupies a 120-acre property on Railroad Avenue in Rio Grande.

Wuerker, a third generation farmer, said he had been working the property with his father as long as he can remember. The first grapes were planted in 1997 and serious plans for opening the winery came to fruition in the fall of 2007, when the couple began production on their first vintage.

Hawk Haven now produces about 1,800 cases of wine annually and has about nine acres of their farm planted with vines. They produce varietals including merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, syrah, pinot grigio, chardonnay and tempranillo.

Wuerker said that if the governor didn’t pass the bill there was “a very good chance that our tasting rooms will be shut down within the next few months.”

“Without this bill, we would still be allowed to produce wine, however, we wouldn't be able to sell direct to the public or self distribute to local retailers,” said Wuerker. “In other words, we would only be allowed to sell our wine through a distributor.”

Hawk Haven is one the local Garden State Wine Growers Association members which include Cape May Winery & Vineyard, located at 711 Townbank Road, Turdo Vineyards & Winery, located 3911 Bayshore Road, and Natali Vineyards, located on Route 47.

And other planned local wineries in the county have been waiting for more than a year to open while the bill was argued in the Legislature.

New Jersey had a law that prohibited out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to customers. The law, however, does allow the local wineries to sell bottles at their wineries and to pour tastings.

The direct-shipping bill was the last measure passed by the state legislature on Jan. 9 and would permit wineries that produce less than 250,000 gallons a year in New Jersey or any other state to ship directly to consumers. It would make New Jersey the 39th state to permit direct shipping.

New Jersey's growing winemaking industry, as well as wine enthusiasts, had been lobbying Christie to sign the bill while the state liquor industry urged the no-action pocket veto.

The major wholesalers and retailers argued that if out-of-state wineries and in-state ones were allowed to ship directly to your doorstep, underage drinking would become more of a problem.

The president of the New Jersey Liquor Store Alliance also blasted the bill as a threat to liquor stores and said it severely undermined the state's business model for selling alcohol.

Local wine growers disagree.

“To give you an idea of what that means to Hawk Haven, in 2010 we sold 93 percent of our wine from our tasting room, 4 percent from local retail outlets, like bring your own restaurants, and 3 percent to local retailers,” he explained.

“We don’t produce enough wine to make a deal with a distributor and we’ve built our business around the privilege of selling our product direct to the consumer,” Wuerker added.

The direct-shipping bill was the state legislature's response to a legal limbo created by a federal court ruling more than a year ago.

In December 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said New Jersey had unconstitutionally discriminated against out-of-state wineries by permitting only in-state wineries to sell directly to consumers.

The appeals court sent the case back to a lower court with two options: Give out-of-state wineries the same right to sell to consumers, or prohibit all wineries from selling directly to consumers.

The legislative impasse left the matter to U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden in Newark, who gave the warring sides until March 21 to try to resolve matters. Winemakers say the new direct-shipping bill does that.

The bill would permit consumers to order up to 12 cases of wine a year from small wineries. For mass-produced wines, drinkers would still need to go to a liquor store. According to the approved bill wine-shipping can take effect the first day of the fourth month after enactment.

“New Jersey is the garden state, and there's value in purchasing a bottle of wine directly from the guy who grew the grapes and made the wine,” said Wuerker.

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