Mike Beneduce

Cornell University is part of the training behind Mike Beneduce’s approach to winegrowing, but the work that matters on the ground is more specific: the vineyard and cellar are treated as one system, and the bottle is tied to grapes grown on the farm.

At Beneduce Vineyards in Pittstown, the role now sits with vineyard management and winemaking, with Mike Beneduce working inside a model built around estate fruit, small lots, and direct production. The specialty is New Jersey wine, made only from grapes grown on the farm and kept close to the site where they are raised. Vertical integration is the operating logic here. As Beneduce puts it, “In our vertically integrated model, we are growing all our grapes, making all our wine, and selling all our products directly to consumers.”

That structure keeps cultivation, fermentation, and sales under one roof, with the agricultural source still visible in the finished wine. The farm itself is part of the method, not a separate story. When Beneduce says, “Instead of selling to liquor stores and restaurants, we attract people to our farm to experience all aspects of the wine-making process and to appreciate the fact that wine is fundamentally an agricultural product,” he is describing a trade practice built around proximity to land and process. “I feel the responsibility to do what we set out to do — to honestly and truly focus on quality.”

Mike's signature wines include Beneduce Vineyards 2025 Riesling.

Edible Jersey’s Beverage Artisan of the Year in 2017 recognizes the same discipline that defines the work at Beneduce Vineyards in Pittstown: estate-grown fruit, small quantities, and New Jersey wine made with the farm as the source.