Silver gets gold

Friends grow award-winning vineyard from the ground up

By Matt Chiappardi, Staff Writer
   EAST WINDSOR — The Silver Decoy Winery has come a long way since its owners started putting vines in the ground.
   During its first season in 2001, two years before it could even harvest any grapes, a rainstorm flooded the vineyards, soaking them so much it took canoes to get out there and check the grapes.
   Most of that crop was ruined, said co-owner Todd Abrahams.
   Now, six years later, Silver Decoy is enjoying its status as New Jersey’s Winery of the Year, after its Cabernet Franc variety took away top honors at the Garden State Wine Growers Association 2007 competition among the state’s 38 wineries this summer.
   It’s a distinction of which the winery’s seven co-owners are quite proud, especially since they began from humble origins with the majority of them knowing very little about grape growing.
   ”We had no idea we could grow grapes here,” said Mr. Abrahams.
   ”We tried it, it worked, and we’re still learning what else we can do,” he added.
   Except for Mark and Brian Carduner, whose family once owned Carduner Liquors until it was sold in 2000, the winery’s other five owners come from a patchwork of different professions.
   Mr. Abrahams is a fifth-grade teacher in Monroe, who grew up in Cranbury and now lives in Cream Ridge. Russ Forman is a builder/contractor who also grew up in Cranbury and now makes his home in Metuchen. Richard McIntyre and Will Perine are commercial landscapers from Washington Township. And Jerry Watlington is an electrician who lives in Roosevelt.
   They all still have their day jobs, said Mark Carduner. And Mr. Abrahams added that almost every moment one of them is not working, they’re at the winery, on Windsor-Perrineville Road, overseeing or performing every aspect of the wine-making process.
   ”We take it very seriously,” said Mr. Abrahams.
   ”If you’re not out tasting the grapes, you’re pressing them; or if you’re not doing that, you’re fighting mildews, or putting (the wine) into bottles. You’ve got to pay attention to every detail,” he added.
   The seven co-owners are a combination of childhood and professional friends, who came together for a common purpose in 2000, said Mr. Carduner.
   They loved wine, and the romance that surrounded winemaking and the vineyard.
   ”It’s beautiful out there, almost therapeutic,” said Mr. Abraham.
   That fascination moved the group to buy 4 acres of farmland preserve in the township from an auction in Trenton, and the experimentation began.
   But before even one vine was planted, the group absorbed as many winemaking books, classes and seminars they could, said Mr. Carduner. They reached out to other winemakers, mostly from New York and Virginia, for advice, and began with a 3-acre patch.
   ”We had no idea what the potential for growing high-quality grapes here was,” said Mr. Carduner.
   But initial success bred momentum, and, “suddenly, we had 1,500 plants,” he added.
   The group was able to bottle its first vintage in 2003, said Mr. Carduner. Back then, the winery had only the Cabernet Franc and a Chardonnay.
   Today it spans 110 acres, of which 13 have been planted so far. And it straddles two townships, East Windsor and Washington, producing 12 varieties of wine.
   Most of those include the typical grape varieties one is bound to find, such as Merlot, Pinot Grigio and Cabernet Sauvignon. However, the winery also produces a few whimsical blends.
   A red table wine called Retriever is named for a chocolate Labrador named Chester who wanders around the winery and serves as a mascot of sorts.
   ”He’s as much a part of the winery as anybody,” said Mr. Forman.
   There’s also a blend called KC-10 named in honor of the type of plane Air Force Capt. Jeff Asbey, who works at the winery, flew in more than 100 combat missions over Afghanistan and Iraq.
   ”It was something we (originally) put together just for the guys on the base around Christmastime,” said Mr. Asbey referring to Maguire Air Force Base in Burlington County where he is stationed.
   When Silver Decoy began bottling vintages, it was ranked 22 out of the state’s 38 wineries, said Mr. Abrahams. Now that it’s No. 1, the owners don’t look at their competitors as enemies. As far as both Mr. Abrahams and Mr. Carduner are concerned, the wine industry in the state benefits when all the wineries do well.
   ”I think (the industry) is ready to explode,” said Mr. Abrahams.
   ”There are a lot of people out there who drink wine, and many of them don’t look down on New Jersey wine anymore,” he added.
   In the meantime, Mr. Abrahams points out that Silver Decoy is no longer an experiment, but a legitimate and growing business.
   ”We’re not just making wine in our bathtubs, here,” he said.
   And co-owner Mr. Forman, echoes that sentiment.
   ”We want people to know we’re not just a bunch of ham-and-eggers,” he said.
   ”We know what we’re doing.”