Competition in January 2019 - the
largest of its kind for American
wines. The four wineries were
Sharrott Winery (which received
a Double Gold award for its 2016
Reserve Chardonnay), Auburn
Road Vineyards, 4JG’s Winery,
and Bellview (which took home a
Best in Class award for its Gruner
Veltliner). In addition awards were
picked up by Old York Cellars,
Bellview (which received a Best in
Class for its Gruner Veltliner), and
Sky Acres Winery (which received
a Best in Class for its Red Blend:
Red Native/Hybrid).
Sky Acres Winery is not only
producing excellent wines, but
they’re doing it in a unique, more
sustainable way. The winery is
owned by Meera and Dr. Vijay
Singh. Dr. Singh is a world-
recognized biotech scientist with
hundreds of published papers.
Meera is a graphic designer
who now devotes her time to
art and wine. She is a Wine &
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 58
Spirit Education Trust (WSET)
level 3 certified sommelier and
is the blender and taster-in-chief
for the winery. According to
the winery’s website, “Dr. Singh
decided to apply his expertise
in disposable processing to the
key issues of winemaking and
the GOfermentor was born out of
his work. It requires no washing
and can be set up in minutes.
Cap management is completely
automated. After fermentation,
an integral press can be used to
press out the wine in minutes.
Best of all, no cleaning once
you are done! Development
of the GOfermentor led to the
establishment of the winery in
2014 and to the commercialization
of the equipment in 2015.”
David Mullen describes it in more
layman terms, “They developed
a process to make wine using a
small fraction of the water that’s
generally used in making wine.
The process is quite interesting. It
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