United States of Wine

New Jersey – San Marco

Bellview Winery – San Marco – Outer Coastal Plain – 2021

Purchased: The Wine Source, Baltimore, MD

Price: $25.00

Despite my personal opinion of New Jersey*, I decided they were a logical next option for my wine tasting adventure through the United States. I had previously tasted a white wine from Bellview Winery, located on the southern side of the state, and it was refreshing. For this, I chose a red from their collection, a 2021 San Marco red.

I’m not as familiar with Italian wines (though I do like Sicilian wines), so when I read about how this grape was brought to New Jersey from Italy, I did a little research on it. Turns out, the San Marco vine was created when they combined two more established grape varieties in the north Italian mountains. Though it wasn’t enough information to know what kind of wine I was about to taste.

The wine was a dark and vibrant burgundy color, almost too beautiful to be true. Unfortunately, that’s the only part of the wine that was remarkable.

The first taste revealed how light the wine was, both in flavor and viscosity. I decided to give it some time to breathe, as wines need a little air to establish their full flavors. But even after 20 minutes of waiting and swirling, the flavor didn’t quite improve or fulfill its potential. It had a similar feel of a day old red burgundy that’s been sitting in the fridge: You knew it could’ve been a good red, but the flavors were long gone.

In its light wine taste, it resembled blackberries, but blackberries that had been bought a week prior and waited in the fridge, losing their plump juiciness and sweetness, but retaining some of their slight tartness.

In the end, this 2021 San Marco was an forgettable wine. It was neither offensive or memorable. If I were to find myself drinking it again, I wouldn’t expect to pay more than $10 for a bottle. It was too expensive for what it provided in terms of flavor.

Score: 6.7 /10

*Driving through the New Jersey Turnpike a couple of years ago, we found it to smell like coffee and burned farts. Not sure if that could lend to the wine growing.