William Heritage Winery

William Heritage Winery is a family-owned and operated estate vineyard and winery located in Mullica Hill, New Jersey. The vineyards enjoy a unique location on the elevated western edge of southern New Jersey’s coastal plain. This region is specifically known as the Outer Coastal Plain American Viticultural Area (AVA), which covers over 2.25 million acres in Southeastern New Jersey and is one of the warmest locales in the Mid-Atlantic region, which is key for growing fully-ripe, richly-flavored grapes.

Six generations of the Heritage family have farmed the same land in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, since 1853. After recognizing the potential of the emerging wine industry in Southern New Jersey, Bill Heritage, with the help of his wife Penni, started converting their 150-acre estate of peach & apple orchards into vineyards in 1998. In 2002, William Heritage Winery released its first vintage of 2001 Chardonnay started a new chapter in their family legacy – a commitment to growing and producing premium estate-grown wines.

William and Penni’s experience with agriculture and their unrelenting hard-working attitude has helped propel the vineyard and winemaking program into something exceptional. The goal has always been to preserve farmland and uphold the family’s agricultural tradition. The weather patterns are similar to those in Bordeaux, France, which creates a favorable environment for grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot & Malbec, along with the white varietal, Sauvignon Blanc. Other grape varieties also flourish at William Heritage Winery, including Chardonnay, Syrah, and Chambourcin, which is a dark-colored, richly-textured French-American hybrid grape that we often refer to as the “East Coast Red Zinfandel.”

Named New Jersey’s “Winery of the Year” in 2011 and 2014 by the Garden State Wine Growers Association, William Heritage has begun cementing itself as a benchmark producer in New Jersey’s largest wine-growing region. Most recent awards include the 2022 Governor’s Cup for Best in Show and Best New Jersey Vinifera Red Wine (2019 Estate Reserve BDX Red Blend), 2022 Best New Jersey Rosé (2021 Estate Rosé), and Double Gold Medal from San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (2021 Estate Reserve BDX Blanc). Other awards include 90+ point ratings from the following publications: Wine & Spirits Magazine, Press Fraction, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Beverage Testing Institute, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, and James Suckling.