Vineland museum hosts grape-growing talk, wine tasting event

A $10 tasting of four Bellview wines paired with a talk on New Jersey grape growing brought a distinctly local crowd to the Vineland Historical Society Museum on Tuesday evening. The 6:30 p.m. program at 108 S. Seventh St. centered on the museum’s newly established grapevines, giving the downtown stop a direct link between Vineland’s past and its current agricultural identity.

Larry Coia, co-owner of Bellview Winery, led the presentation and focused on how grape growing has evolved in New Jersey. His talk covered climate, soil and which varieties perform best in the region, topics that fit a city whose history has long been tied to farming and land use. Coia became co-owner of Bellview in April 2022 after decades of work with Coia Vineyards, which was established in 1975. He also co-authored Wine Grape Varieties for New Jersey and serves on the board of the Wine Industry Council of New Jersey.

The tasting lineup gave the event a practical draw as well as an educational one. Bellview made four wines available, including two whites, Pinot Grigio and Traminette, and two reds, Coeur d’Est and San Marco. The program described the tasting as a way to sample award-winning wines while hearing how growers choose grapes that suit South Jersey conditions. Bellview describes itself as a South Jersey estate winery and says its varieties are selected to match the soil and climate of southern New Jersey.

The setting mattered as much as the wine. The Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society was formed in 1864, three years after Vineland was founded in 1861, and its museum is described as New Jersey’s oldest purpose-built historical society museum, completed in 1910. That made the grape-themed program more than a social event. It placed a present-day agricultural conversation inside one of the city’s oldest civic institutions.

Vineland’s founding story helps explain why the museum’s grape program landed with such a local edge. Cumberland County historical material says Charles K. Landis set out to build, in his words, “a city, and an agricultural and fruit-growing colony around it.” The county history also notes that he believed the land was suited to grape growing. Against that backdrop, a museum evening built around vines, wine and regional growing conditions felt less like a novelty and more like a reminder of how closely Vineland’s name, landscape and economy have always been linked.