Uncorked: Episode 10 – Devon Perry on Elevating New Jersey Wines and Building Community

Show Notes

In this episode of Uncorked: Wine-Business-Life, hosts Bill Green and Jerrold Colton sit down with Devon Perry, the dynamic Executive Director of the Garden State Wine Growers Association. Devon shares her passion for elevating New Jersey’s wine industry and how the state is overcoming the stigma of being a lesser-known wine region.

Devon discusses the rapid growth of New Jersey wineries, the importance of collaboration among vineyard owners, and the strategic initiatives aimed at increasing the visibility of local wines on the national and international stage. As a passionate advocate for local agriculture, Devon's leadership has been instrumental in connecting winemakers and driving innovation across the state.

The episode also delves into Devon’s background, from launching digital initiatives at the American Red Cross to pioneering wine-friendly dining databases. Her relentless drive and commitment to the New Jersey wine community make this conversation both inspiring and insightful.

Tune in to learn how the Garden State is transforming into a thriving wine destination and how local producers are making a name for themselves with bold, high-quality wines. Cheers to New Jersey wine!

What is Uncorked: Wine, Business, and Life with Bill Green & Co-Host Jerrold Colton?

Uncorked: Wine, Business, and Life with Bill Green & Co-Host Jerrold Colton

Kind: captions
Language: en

welcome to Uncorked wine business and

life with Bill Green I'm Gerald Colton

your co-host with Bill Green Bill Green

the proprietor of Saddle Hill and we are

here at beautiful Saddle Hill and where

exactly are we Bill we are in our really

big barrel room where we store our

barrels at about 55 degrees and 65%

humidity and these wines will sit here

uh for 12 to 15 months before they go

into a bottle or before they get Blended

to go into a bottle so there is a lot of

wine that we are sitting with there's a

lot well um about 10,000 cases worth of

wine in here and you notice we did the

we did the walls in burgundy so when we

spilled the stuff right and splatters

you have to clean it up it's it's a

beautiful room it's got a great feel to

it and it even smells good in here

smells amazing we have a very special

guest today we do we have somebody

you've known for a while and you're

experienced now as being a New Jersey

wine grower and maker and she is the

person who is the person in New Jersey

wine Growers and we really want to

welcome our very special guest Devin

Perry the executive director of Garden

State wine growers association hi Devon

thanks for joining us thank you for

having me today it is our pleasure

people probably aren't very familiar

with it I wasn't certainly and you know

reading up and and learn about your

organization it's quite an organization

so first US tell us who New Jersey wine

grow is are so the Garden State wine

growers association is the official

nonprofit representing all wineries in

the beautiful Garden State we like to

call ourselves the Garden State wine

Growers as we talked about earlier

because a lot of people frankly throw

some shade on New Jersey for making wine

and we're the ogs of growing things as

you know with our tomatoes and our corn

and our blueberries and our cranberries

I think that we are forced to be

reckoned with internationally and Bill

you have talked previously about sort of

a little bit of prejudice or people

looking down their nose at New Jersey

and I know that's a big passion of yours

and obviously Devon is the master yeah I

mean you know like you and I have talked

about before when this opportunity first

came to me about being able to build um

grow you know start a Vineyard and build

a winery and New Jersey the concept just

wasn't there and um you know Garden

State wine growers association I was in

touch with them

before I even bought the property wanted

to learn about it what was going on I

think at the time three and a half years

ago there was 54 now they're 60 so um

it's a growing organization and you know

Devon has just been absolutely amazing

and I think she is kind of like a oneman

wrecking crew and is absolutely oh and

woman whatever uh gender neutral here on

Court and um she's just taking this

thing to the next level and and it's

been really awesome watching it and she

you know when I see somebody like Devon

with the passion that she has for this

organization and what she does she

convinced me to be on her board so it's

kind of why Deon and I talk to each

other probably five times a week she's

using my 6:30 a.m. call I will say I was

just about to out us for being on the

phone before the sun comes up um and I

think that one of the reasons why uh

genuinely is because we have so many

ideas between the two of us for the

entirety of the association for all

wineries in New Jersey and it's critical

that we do not allow for the um the

perception from our rearview mirror to

shape our future so Bill and I have um

Concepts that are grounded in Sound

business logic um that are driving um

the next chapter for the association in

New Jersey wineries and what I wait let

me on this note because I get these

calls at some crazy times it's true and

the her you never heard somebody so

excited and she's going on and and I'm

telling you she's like a a 14-year-old

kid telling this telling a story on how

excited she is and how do you just not

buy into that talking about work

everybody oh it's work yeah we're an

idea for 2027

no exactly but we do talk about business

wine and our purpose is and life and our

purpose is to entertain to educate and

Inspire and you guys are both extremely

inspirational and Bill's an early riser

I get hit with emails really early

doesn't usually call me or bother me and

I don't want to wake Amy up if she's

sleeping but but but the fact is that I

know you wake up hitting the floor

running every day and obviously you guys

seem like a perfect match from that

standpoint as the passion you both bring

so why don't you talk a little Devon

about your background and the passion

you have in wine and where it came from

and how got you into the position you

are now I'm happy to so um Once Upon a

Time our family um who loves a good

spreadsheet developed developed a

spreadsheet that's a business part

developed a spreadsheet that cataloged

restaurants where we um we visited it we

didn't have to be frequenters of those

restaurants it could be a one-off um we

would Mark who ordered what um what

wines we brought and how we rated what

we ordered so it evolved into an online

restaurant database for Philadelphia and

Greater Miami really because that's

where my grandparents lived at the time

sound familiar and we decided that the

reason why this um spreadsheet came

together and why other people might be

interested not in our assessment of you

know duck coni or french onion soup but

where you could bring a bottle of wine

so as you can see just with our

background here um what we're looking at

similar to Bill and I imagine this

happens with you all the time when

you're traveling you want to bring your

own bottle of wine but you want to

follow the rules what are the rules um

is there a corkage fee if there is a

corkage fee how much is it so we had a

team of um Amazon Mechanical Turk if

you're familiar with murk where you can

hire people to do micro projects so we

paid individuals based on those micro

projects and we had them calling and

calling and call calling in 10 major

Metro centers eventually um every

restaurant to find out what the ratings

were for every restaurant in all 10

major Metro centers it wasn't something

I did on my own and then we launched

goo.com which was an online restaurant

database serving 10 major Metro centers

with a focus on wine friendly ratings

that genuinely started in a simple

spreadsheet that's fabulous and we're

here in Vorhees New Jersey right next to

Cherry Hill and across the river from

Philadelphia I live in Philadelphia and

the BOS are fabulous over there so

please explain for anybody who doesn't

know what a corkage fee is so um a BYOB

or a bring your own bottle restaurant

allows for you to Simply bring wine um

and or other um beverages to the

restaurant to enjoy the corkage Fe

specifically refers to wine so it's that

act of uncorking the bottle of wine

which nowadays with twist offs I think

still includes twist offs for anyone

trying to get around that regulation and

the corkage fee um it's also um in

certain cities and certain states there

are different laws so we always

encourage people to or we encouraged

people to take a look at what the local

municipality had at as its law just

because someone said that they brought a

bottle of wine somewhere they could have

a different general manager the laws

could have changed so there it is a

little bit of a moving Target and where

they won't necessarily let them use it I

mean I've been that have their own

liquor license that have yeah yeah like

was I had dinner at Barkley Prime last

week and it was $50 to open up a bottle

of wine but it was a very expensive

bottle of wine so I didn't you know I

didn't care to pay it right and then you

can go to other places where it's 15 or

they won't even charge you they're so

happier there and they have liquor

licensees so it's traditional boo

they're not charging anything but it's

really you want to go to more than

boobs so my question Devin is as as you

know just a consumer going out for

dinner should I not feel badly about

bringing a bottle of wine with me to a

place that does have a liquor license if

it's New Jersey

wine no in all seriousness there are um

a lot of wonderful restaurants out there

that are actively right now trying to

research how to have more New Jersey

wine on their lists that I think is the

Magic Bullet and and Bill um I and

obviously Evan's passion is infectious

and I can imagine when she asked you to

be on the board it was an easy yes but

tell me about what what made you

interested in joining that something you

are passionate about a lot of things you

are very benevolent and you own lots of

boards so tell me about her asking you

when you accepting that board request uh

she asked me to be on the board and then

a couple days

later she said I want you to be the

finance chair and I said oh come on

that's like watching paint dry right

like I don't want to be but I'll do this

for you for the first year and um now

she's appointed me the marketing chair

which I'm not exactly sure but I will

tell you the reason why I'm on the board

other than the fact that with the energy

that Devon brings is that and we have to

be a team it's one of the things I love

about the industry you know I can call

20 different wine owner Winery owners in

New Jersey and say hey how' you guys do

this you know with non-competitive

information and we all kind of help each

other so it's really just being a team

and being en forceful I mean try to take

you know pisses me off that New Jersey

is number 11 in the country is wine uh

producing uh state in ky's number 10 m

and that's just wrong we do have more

horses though don't we we have more

horses we have more horses I have horse

themed Winery right we have more horses

in Kentucky we do that's crazy because

it's known for their horses I hope

someone's factchecking right

now I think we do and I've heard that

before but you know with Devin as our

leader of all the Wier

together I mean she's got us talking to

people from Italy that want to bring her

wine over and like I think this thing's

going to explode I want to be on the

front of it that's why and Devin there

were a couple comments that have already

been made that that strike me and I'm

sure anybody listening which is I think

Bill you said the number that what we

were 54 wineries when you or wine

producers when you started just a few

years or recently you know a few years

ago and now they're 60 which is

basically a 10% rise in a short time I

mean what is happening with with Jersey

wines and are you seeing a real growth

and and awareness what's outstanding is

you know it really does take a

commitment to agriculture in order to

invest in a winery in New Jersey and it

is not easy so the growth as you stated

and I do love math but I'm not going to

be able to um give you percentage growth

in the rest of what I have am about to

say doing we had six a growth and it's

now at 60 so X over 100 plus so what

what I do know is that the exceptional

wines that are being produced in New

Jersey is absolutely because of the

grapes the people are caring for the

vines that translates into what you end

up tasing at um in your glass and what I

think you're getting at and I don't know

if bill has seen this as he has been

speaking with a lot of Winery owners

from anything um related to you know H

how um the flow of the visitor affects

you know how does it impact sales

there's lots of interesting stuff that

we talk about as an industry um

internally but we want to know from

people who have visited as it relates to

our growth is are they getting a great

experience because when the economy

starts to buckle and your disposable

income starts to decrease um you might

not be able to buy that ticket to go to

some of the international you know wine

destinations that we're familiar with um

but you can drive you can drive with

within one tank of gas we are in the

middle of about 44 million people that's

a huge audience that truly if if people

like you don't know about the Garden

State wine growers association or even

New Jersey wine we have a wild

opportunity every other

destination you got to like grab the

hook because I could talk about this for

a long time but every other wine

destination targets our resident they

want to

buy Billboards they want to be in our

magazines they want to have TV ads that

Target our ZIP codes our goo you know um

our Geo fencing everything is targeting

the uh one tank and gas um you know

resident I want for people to understand

that um we need to shop local and if you

truly fancy yourself as someone who

supports the local business person and

supports agriculture a bottle of wine is

a great way to show that and Bill

next to you or between you and Devon are

three glasses of wine and you have we've

we've I mean it's obviously wine from

here from Saddle Hill and we in our

previous episode one of our previous

episodes we actually tasted some wines

because you've made the point that New

Jersey wine is comparable to Napa Valley

really anywhere else and at the same

price price point you're going to get

the same quality of wine I personally

thought yours was better but it was

interesting on that episode we talked we

had two bottles and Apple wines and they

were $40 and our 22 Cabernet silon

$36.95 so here what I have our wine

maker got ready for us was from that

Barrel up there and this is the same

Cabernet s with

2023 really young so it's been sitting

in the barrels for um 14 months we have

at least two more months before that

gets blended into a bottle so it's

obviously pretty young but we should we

should actually try it and talk about it

and I want to know if you guys think

based on the fact that the two wines

that we tried from Napa there were 40

and this was

$36.95 since this is called wine

business and life and to me business is

the business of maybe making money or a

profit so you think I can get 40 bucks

for this now let's find out first I

already saw Deon take a little sip so

she could not resist to the view to the

viewers out there I um was getting for

clemp and I didn't have a chickpea you

know chck is neither a chck nor a about

the clanking I took you know what the

clanking is all about you know what this

we got to do it and we are supposed to

drink and then going to explain and then

you're going to explain I was in

Portugal uh this past summer and I went

to the world of wine museum and there's

this wall you know starting in the 1500s

on wine so back in the medieval days

enemies they poison each other right or

business competitors or whatever and the

wine glasses were filled up really high

so when they clanked wine would spill

over into each other's glass this way

they know they weren't being

poisoned did you see Princess Bride Bill

Prince of what Princess Bride we'll have

to it'll be homework for next time we'll

talk about that I'm thinking we should

fill our glasses more

then all right cheers guys cheers to New

Jersey wine

are we going to talk about swirling

and next episode Oh you mean that'll be

the Life

part look it's clearly like ridiculously

young but you could tell just by the

body of it and the fruit forwardness and

the color yeah and theor I mean that's

deep right I it's pretty we got Tyler's

lights over here this is wonderful even

see through it it's so deep I'm a big

fan and and so I want to go back to you

Deon PR we're talking to the executive

director of the Gardner St State wine

grows Association which is a really cool

title um obviously the gardan state is

what state for those who don't know New

Jersey so why aren't we the New Jersey

wine growers association when we exhibit

nationally and internationally even

locally a lot of people have a hard time

providing an unbiased sip um when they

taste our wine so thanks to the fact

that most people don't remember

the nickname of every state we um we

utilize the Garden State in order for

people um to taste with an unbias pallet

for the first SI and I do think that a

lot of people all over the country and

world picture you know the refineries in

wor that they pass on their Turnpike or

other things they don't picture us as

the garden estate period so that's why

that's why I as the question I think it

would maybe surprise a lot of people not

not from around here it's a great

question and you know I I um wanted to

touch on the avas if you're okay with

that for a moment so the state of New

Jersey is adorable like little

California California has over 150

American viticultural Appalachian or Ava

for short in New Jersey we have four so

up North is Central Delaware Valley AVA

that kind of straddles New Jersey and

Pennsylvania and then if you go a little

bit further north and across closer to

New York is Warren Hills Ava come down

south and you hit where we are which is

the outer coastal plane and then all the

way down south to the botom bottom tip

is the Kate May Peninsula

Ava and you we are ad Crystal Plains

well listen and you as a New Jersey wine

maker are you dealing with anybody you

know surprised a little prejudice

against New Jersey

surprised at the quality of the wine a

lot so you know I actually sto in to

Saddle Hill every once in a while but I

live in Florida and I brought a lot of

sat Hol wine to Florida and I have some

wine snob friends that are just saying

the heck you doing up there I said well

you know I want to be a little modest so

our soil has 100 Years of Horseman or in

it right so that's why our wine is so

good but reality is to devan's point

earlier we've come a long way right you

know New Jersey was known for the wine

of being fruit wines blueberry wine

cranberry wine well we're now making

real deal wine and it's you know it's

just super exciting and the outer

coastal plains is um our region and

there's an Association outer coastal

plains run by some really great folks

and they came up with years ago a wine

that if you're in the outer coastal

plains you can make a wine called cord

CEST and Cordes is heart of the East is

that French it is and you are correct

right and it's right and super excited

our wine maker Peter is on the board of

at Crystal Plains so he takes this wine

really seriously

and we won a silver

medal uh for our first year out making

gordes wine which is outstanding because

the wineries that are in the outer

coastal plain that are producing Cordes

also receive a wild amount of attention

and they deserve it from journalists so

if you want to experience other wine

that is destination specific a region

specific you're familiar with champagne

with a Capital C um Bordeaux with a

capital B

um a lot of those origin stories are as

critical as superhero origin stories so

Cordes gave us a chance to say to the

world that the outer coast of plain

grapes are desired not just because we

are New Jersey wineries but others are

now taking note because this harvest in

2024 by all accounts we are the silver

lining of the drought that New Jersey

just experienced because the climate was

very similar to California um and we've

heard reports from the Bordeaux region

that they may have a challenging harvest

in 24 so we think that um demand for our

wines will be quite High just speaking

with you and listening to you and um I

personally believe that New Jersey wine

grows Association is in excellent hands

and could not have a more passionate

knowledgeable and driven person at the

helm so how what was your background

both business and person that led you to

this

position when I was um graduating from

business school I was able to meet with

the CEO of the Philadelphia chapter of

the American Red Cross um I was the

founder of drexal women in business only

because they thought Devon was a boy

name and so they put me in a lot of

groups with a lot of women um and we

finished our work quite quickly and

therefore we had some extra time so we

created that group and we joined the

American Red crosses I believe it was

their first now annual 5K to raise funds

for the local chapter

I raised my hand in the middle of the

you know um I guess team rally that took

place in Center City Philadelphia and I

asked about how the organization um in

Philadelphia kept the transaction cost

so low I think for anyone who supports a

nonprofit we're very dialed into to that

so um what percentage of the dollars

used for admin and they were below two2

two cents per dollar which I thought was

outstanding so he thought it was

outstanding that I knew what a

transaction was and he hired me right

out of business school to be the

electronic marketing manager at the Red

Cross um and I I love him and I hope

he's not upset that I'm going to be

sharing this he said I'm not quite sure

what the electronic marketing manager is

but can you figure it out and can you

build a program I was very happy to do

so this was early 2000s um a few months

later heran Katrina hit and after that

um Tom Foley got a phone call from me

not not at 6:30 in the morning but at

11:00 p.m. at night 48 hours after

Katrina and it was me asking him if I

could call Google and he was like are

you okay you know did you have too much

wine today what's going on um we had a

lot of missing people and we needed to

search where they were and as family

members um you your phone lines were

down it was a challenge so he gave me

permission to do something outside of my

role he genuinely he believed in me but

he was sort of like good luck trying to

reach Google so we created a strategic

partnership between the national

American Red Cross Google and Comcast so

it was called Katrina search and now

it's called people search so God forbid

a million times any of us are missing

someone and they check in it at a

shelter and the Red Cross is phenomenal

at disaster relief and taking care of

people but search is a unique specialty

that Google has so now it exists where

you can find someone a little bit easier

so I kind of credit whatever um my I

learned from my family 100% but also

having leaders like Bill that believe

that you know hey kid just give it a

shot right I have these ideas I share

them with him first um I get the

blessing and then We're Off to the Races

so some of the ideas work um and we have

full industry support other ideas we

have to beta test and make sure that it

works because we're all mom and pop

businesses and Frank

you know someone like Bill understands

more um uh near and dear to the heart

you and your wife are so dedicated to

the high quality experience that

somebody gets when they walk in the door

but it's not simple it's just the end

result this radical Hospitality ends up

seeming simple because the staff the

ownership the wine makers The Growers

everyone is so passionate about what

they do so it makes my job a lot easier

to promote what they're doing you know

your Katrina story blows me away I that

was 2005 for those who don't know what

it was or remember and it really

devastated the New Orleans region and

that that whole and U I'm just picturing

I I was riveted to it watching them try

to search and find everybody for you to

have been involved in that stuff and

that's inspirational and to you for that

I actually I actually have it I know

we're kind of toward toward the end of

this but um you know we know you or I

know you as this uh you know highly

energetic

um single

mom uh we talk a lot about business we

don't talk a lot about

life and tell me more about Devin Perry

and life and try not to say the word

wine absolutely so uh other than the

fact you live in Cher

M so I'll I'll start with a tiny story

about my mother so my mom is a single

mom right so so she raised me um my dad

is a wonderful businessman um they both

come from um incredibly hardworking

Families my mom's dad was a marine um

and then he made window coverings um

Bleaker blinds in Philadelphia and that

was on Seventh in green and my dad's dad

was um he was the founder of the Frank

linman and QVC and so all of those

dinner tables involved um talking about

business

life happened while we talked about

business so I could sit on my popups

laps um I had at one point six living

grandmothers and um they were everything

they were funny as anything six living

grandmothers because of divorces and

remarriages I know everyone's trying to

figure out how that happened um and so

my bubby used to say you should always

wear lipstick and earrings cuz you never

know when a talent scout is around um

she made friends when she filled her

prescriptions at local pharmacies you

know I became the woman that I am

because of the friendliness um and

dedication I think of my grandparents

and my parents so Thanksgiving dinner

when you were younger and we're kind of

getting involved in

business I can only speak for myself you

know I started my business my father was

my initial partner there was some turkey

legs flying across that table every once

in a while can you speak to uh how the

family got along family business is just

brutally difficult it's interesting so

my my grandfather for anyone who um on

my on my dad's side his name was Joseph

seagull who anyone for anyone who was

able to work with him um and at his

memorial which happened in um December

of 2019 actually January 31st of 2019 I

believe it was um they spoke so highly

of his the the way that he was grounded

he was logical and there was Excellence

or you just didn't do it so there was

nothing to argue about you either did it

you did it well or you didn't do it at

all so basically he was a dictator I

guess so and and and if you knew what

you were talking about he also listened

but when he believed in some something

for example he launched um shipping and

handling to be disclosed to the consumer

prior to the purchase doesn't sound like

a very big deal but if you're buying

something that's very heavy or traveling

quite a distance and you purchase it and

then shipping and handling is equal to

the amount of that purchase that is an

questionable business practice my

understanding is that somebody actually

walked out um when he made the decision

to to be dedicated to that transparency

because they thought it was a bad

business decision and here it was part

of his legacy people talked about it at

his memorial so I think it's he he was a

Fearless consensus Builder and he

challenged alled you to say here's why

maybe that wouldn't work and he would

listen but if you didn't have sound

evidence to back it up you were doing it

but he had to be pretty proud of Devin

he must have bragged about you like

crazy he he was very you know he was um

I'm very happy to share that he brought

me to lots of failing

Ventures but I learned so much and he

was always proud of me that I was

willing to you know sit next to him and

do the work Devin we talk about a lot of

different things on this and when we

talk about wine business and life and

we're intertwining all of those but one

of the things that bill as a as a

leading entrepreneur and the bestselling

author of it it talks about is failures

and and that you learn more from the

failure and you have to overcome the

failure so I'm sure you learned a lot

from that too it's important I think um

we all know what it looks like to make

money right that is not something that

anybody needs to say okay so you're

making money what are you going to do

with it how are you going to reinvest

the capital into expansion I'm sure that

there are smart ways to use other

people's money I know I've heard a lot

of people talk about that but you don't

even get a bank to consider working with

you unless you can demonstrate some type

of history or or track record of

experience you don't get that by

succeeding every time you get that by

failing and being

absolutely Relentless in figuring out

why you failed my my family story is

full of business failures um they

include the first five star smokefree

European hotel that nobody wanted to go

to so we had a lot of Post-it

notes yeah but it was a really good

lesson in launch when The Sweet Spot is

presenting itself to you if you launch a

little prematurely you're going to have

a lot of extra Post-it notes and Devin

in your role with the New Jersey I'm

sorry the Garden State and I really

apologize this everybody but but in if

anybody wants to go check out your

website and see see you you you do so

much fun stuff and visiting the winery

alone is great but there's all sorts of

activities you have surrounding them too

we have so many events all over the

state all the time and New Jersey

wines.com that's New Jersey all spelled

out wines plural because how can you

have just one.com um we aggregate all of

the events at every Winery all over the

state and we help you take the thinking

out of what you're going to do whether

it's right now or this weekend ahead um

the Garden State wine growers

association also recently coined

November as New Jersey wine month so

it's a milestone because it's the first

time in history the government even

proclaimed it with a beautiful frame

document so you know whatever happens to

me tomorrow it's still going to exist

next year and our hope is that the

farmers and the wine makers and The

Growers and um people that are out there

wondering how they can participate in

events going with their friends or

family members just go to New Jersey

wines.com or follow us everywhere you

could follow anything on social media

and I got to believe Bill it brings all

of you together all the other wine

Growers and almost you know as a as a

Brotherhood Sisterhood and camarad it's

unbelievable I've met some really great

friends I mean obviously including Devin

but it's unbelievable like a whole new

what you call a Brotherhood I mean I can

call Scott at alurn Road and what are

you doing here and it it's just terrific

it really is and it's really not

competitive I presume

maybe it

is you know I mean look we all want to

sell our wine and at the end of the day

we're all trying to get into you know

we're trying to get our wines into the

same liquor store and the liquor store

says well I already have 25 different

New Jersey wines I don't need another

one so there's a competitive nature to

it but really what's good for one is

going to be good for everybody and Deon

obviously that's your role 100% I was

just going to say you took the words

right out of my mouth the Garden State

wine Growers is the place where in any

area where there is true competition

which is necessary for progress and

growth and success and betterment of

product um we take that really off the

table and our our thrust is we all

belong on the table so we are fearless

promoters of all New Jersey wineries

getting together finding out if the

weather is a little bit of a wild card

um hey what what is it that you're doing

um now that there's this heat wave

coming in um there are creative MacGyver

techniques that wineries use all Over

the Garden State um and so sometimes it

does take um I don't know if I'm am I

allowed to say crib notes how do I talk

about that without saying it I'm sure

there's a better

way I don't know how anyway so they'll

share crib notes and and tell each other

okay you're having this challenge

they'll taste each other's wines they'll

talk about marketing you know everything

that you're allowed to talk to a

competitor about um they do and they

help each other improve and Bill from my

standpoint it's obviously good for all

of you to raise the awareness of New

Jersey wines and to have someone at you

leading the charge thank you I'm

thrilled to be here we we're just

getting warmed up because

our well he brand new to this so so I

mean with that passion the drive and the

growth of maybe about 10% recently we

will have a larger growth because you

you look at Napa how many wineries any

idea how many there are out there well I

can simply just share again the Ava

statistic which is that we have four

avas in adorable beautifully situated

New Jersey with 136 miles a beach and

California has over 150 avas and God

knows how many Beach how many miles a

beach and we're much easier to get

around so the the way that I look at our

continued growth has to be a clustered

approach Partnerships between Wineries

and making sure the public has an

outstanding memorable time with our

radical

Hospitality I think that says it all and

I can see why all of the wine growers in

in New Jersey want her as her executive

director because it has really been a

pleasure thank you so much for joining

us thank you for having me and Bill this

is really really good even it's really

what do you think Devin I will say that

I haven't had a New Jersey wine that I

haven't liked ah there you go and that

is why Devon executive director of the

Garden State wine growers association is

so good at a role amongst other reasons

thank you so much for joining us and I

can see that we are in good hands the

New Jersey wine makers thank you for

having me can we do a cheers to New

Jersey wine together on a count of three

1 2 3 cheers to New Jersey wine