Dr. Larry Coia on New Jersey Wines, Grape Innovation, and Health Myths

In this episode of Uncorked: Wine-Business-Life, hosts Bill Green and Jerrold Colton welcome Dr. Larry Coia, a trailblazer in New Jersey winemaking and a former radiation oncologist. Dr. Coia's journey from practicing medicine to pioneering grape growing is a fascinating story of passion and innovation.

Dr. Coia shares his unique approach to viticulture, including experimenting with unconventional grape varieties like the bold, Italian-inspired San Marco and the complex Blaufränkisch. Discover how his scientific mindset shaped his winemaking techniques and led to the production of some of New Jersey’s finest wines.

The episode also dives into the recent controversy sparked by the Surgeon General’s proposed alcohol warning labels. As both a wine expert and a medical professional, Dr. Coia provides insightful, balanced perspectives on the real health risks associated with moderate wine consumption, advocating for scientific accuracy in public health messaging.

Plus, hear Bill discuss his vision for Saddlehill and how collaboration, rather than competition, drives the local winemaking community. Whether you're a wine enthusiast or curious about the future of New Jersey wine, this episode uncorks an engaging mix of science, passion, and industry insights. Cheers!

Introduction to Dr. Larry Coia

Welcome to Uncorked Wine Business and Life with Bill Green. I'm Jerrold Colton, and as always, we have special guests. Bill, I know this one is really near and dear to your heart as both a friend and an expert in the area that you are now venturing into.

He has a great wine palate. I really appreciate my friendship with Dr. Larry Coia for being Larry. The coolest thing about when I bought the farm and made this giant leap of faith to start planting grapes, build a winery, and spend an ungodly amount of money on the project was to meet folks like Larry.

These are folks who are in the business because they love the wine, they love the experience, and they love nature. Even without our business relationship, I can call Larry up or my winemaker can call. He is a partner in Bellview Winery, a wonderful winery in New Jersey. They can share notes and just chat. While we are in some respects business partners, competitors, and friends, you don't find that in many businesses. Thank you very much, Larry, for being here.

It is my pleasure being here. I have to say, the same goes for meeting Bill. To have somebody with his enthusiasm and knowledge of wine recognize that we can do something really nice in South Jersey was a big boost for all of us.

I went out on a limb, just like any entrepreneur typically does. They take risks right out of the gate. When they asked me to be on the board of the New Jersey Garden State Wine Growers Association, I had a goal. I understand that New Jersey is number 11 in the country for producing wine and Kentucky is number 10. I am not getting off this board until we are number nine. We need to jump down two steps.

Larry spent his entire professional career as an oncologist specializing in radiation oncology. He is Temple-trained. Larry, talk about the early years. I know you grew up in Vineland on a family farm and then went away to college. How did all this happen?

A Winding Career Path: From Physics to Oncology

I have a winding path to eventually getting into wine, but I have always enjoyed everything I have been involved with career-wise. My first career was physics. I really liked physics and studied it as an undergraduate. I spent a year in Switzerland, where I studied physics at one of their famous places, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

I had a scholarship to Bryn Mawr College to their department of physics, but at that point, there weren't a lot of employment opportunities for physicists. Some of my best friends in college were going into medicine. I didn't think that was necessarily the type of science I wanted to be in, but I decided to find out a little bit about it.

When I did my graduate work in physics, I also took some courses so I could get into medical school because they require a full year of organic chemistry. I got into Temple Medical School and enjoyed it there, spending time with radiation physicists and radiation biologists.

I did the whole Philadelphia scene. I did my Jefferson residency, and then I was on the Penn faculty for 10 years along with Fox Chase. I rose through the ranks and became well known in the field of radiation oncology. I was going to stay in academics, but I decided to look at private practice opportunities.

In the mid-1990s, I was offered a position to run some of the facilities in the St. Barnabas healthcare system. I did that for 15 years, recruiting people from terrific places like Kettering, Fox Chase, and the University of Pennsylvania. Our group is called East Coast Radiation Oncology.

The Transition to Viticulture

I had in the back of my mind that after 30 or 35 years, I wanted to do something else. I had a farming background, and though I never wanted to be a farmer, I was intrigued by grapes and wine. I started planting a little bit of grapes in medical school. I planted about 100 vines, and after a few years, I tasted it. I was in my late 20s or early 30s.

I was planting these in Vineland, New Jersey. Where I grew up, my grandparents grew grapes, but most of them had passed away, so I didn't get exposure to the generation that was really interested. My parents only drank occasionally.

I started to recognize that it tasted like what I thought it was supposed to taste like. It was Cabernet Sauvignon I was growing, and I was one of the pioneers in New Jersey for growing vinifera. I liked that idea. I eventually retired from medicine around 2013 and have been growing grapes ever since. We now have a 14-acre vineyard and bought into Bellview Winery a couple of years ago.

Discovering the San Marco Grape in Italy

Larry and his wife Barbara had dinner with Amy and me the other night. He brought a bottle of wine made from grapes grown on the farm. He tells us the story about going to Italy and finding this really interesting grape that kind of has no name. He plants some just because that is what you do, with no market for it. It is that entrepreneurial risk.

It turns out to be this fabulous wine. He trademarks the name San Marco. He is a really creative guy. We drank it the other night and I thought Saddle Hill needs to acquire some of these grapes. That thing punched me right in the face. I love that big, bold fruit, especially from Italy. It has that unique flavor.

We had some grants from the Outer Coastal Plain Vineyard Association to look at our climate and define it very carefully to see what other countries might have similarities. Two really stood out. One was Bordeaux, which has very similar soils, gravelly loam, and similar summers, though we have more humidity and rain.

The other was Trentino-Alto Adige in the northeastern part of Italy. In 2012, I traveled to Verona and identified a researcher at the Edmund Mach foundation. We discussed what varieties he had been developing. He is a research geneticist who had developed several crosses that hadn't found widespread use in Italy yet.

They were just numbers. This is still called IASMA ECO 1. The Italians are using it experimentally, and even Antinori is using it. We brought it over, though it wasn't easy. We had to take it through California through quarantine. Eventually, we got it released with the help of Rutgers.

It turns out it is a little more resistant to downy and powdery mildew and definitely more resistant to botrytis. It is producing a damn good wine. It is more full-bodied than many of the wines we have. It is black as ink with good alcohol levels.

The Saddle Hill and Coia Vineyard Partnership

When I first bought the farm and named it Saddle Hill, I started planting grapes in 2021 with an eye on opening in early 2024. I knew I needed to have sources of grapes. Larry and I have a partnership where I lease a piece of his vineyard. Saddle Hill is going to take those grapes, rain or shine.

Regardless of the quantity or the condition, we have those grapes. We would say the grapes we get from Coia Vineyard are the best grapes in New Jersey. This wine we are about to taste has Regent, which I had never heard of, Blaufränkisch, and Cabernet Franc. Three of the five grapes are from Larry's business.

The Blaufränkisch contributes a lot to the cherry flavor and the acidity. Regent is one of the offspring of Chambourcin that brings in some of the earthiness, and the Cabernet Franc rounds it out. My full tongue is stimulated with this. It is delicious.

You have this vineyard and it is 14 acres, which is not the largest but not the smallest. Why would you take up space growing something like Regent that doesn't have a market?

Well, that one I don't grow myself, although we grow it at Bellview Winery. Blaufränkisch is an Austrian grape from the Burgenland region, which is not that far from the Trentino-Alto Adige region. There are some similarities there.

I had tasted that when traveling to Austria and thought it would be a great grape. Joe Fiola, who was at Rutgers at that time, said this is a grape that might do really well in our area. That is why I tried that. Cabernet Franc is probably the best vinifera we could grow in New Jersey. That is why we have 10 acres of it. It is a terrific variety.

Response to the Surgeon General’s Cancer Warning

On January 3, 2025, the Surgeon General came out with a statement asking all alcohol producers, including wineries, to label their bottles with a cancer risk warning. In my opinion, it is pretty irresponsible. You have the entire liquor industry worldwide and the hospitality industry.

Beyond the economic impact, think about the social aspect and what it would mean if people stopped drinking alcohol because of these warnings. We just learned the FDA killed Red Dye 3, and thank God for that. I was drinking Gatorade and getting cancer. Larry, as an oncologist and an expert in wine, what does this really mean to all of us?

Evaluating the Risks and Benefits of Alcohol Consumption

I think it is a mistake. The Surgeon General can say whatever he wishes, but usually, it is based on really solid science. I don't feel that this is. This is absolutism, where it's either yes or no, it causes cancer. Well, sunlight causes cancer. Driving in your car can cause death.

It was important to recognize that cigarettes cause cancer. It is one of the greatest causes of death in the United States. As a physician, I treated patients with cancer and cigarettes were the major cause. To try to equate those two is what's going to happen when people see a label saying alcohol causes cancer. They are going to say it is just like cigarettes.

The current guidelines are based on well-founded science: one drink for women and two for men. That is an interpolation of a lot of data. We need a lot more research to say if that one drink is an average. We know you can't do five drinks one day and then one the next and have it turn out to be an average of one drink a day.

I really think it is a major deception to say that. As you point out, there is the social aspect as well. There are many great quotes, like Hemingway saying wine is the greatest thing of civilization. It really helps us and it is fun.

Isn't it funny? Wasn't it the Surgeon General who said one of the major crises in America is our problem with loneliness and social isolation? Wine is a lubricant for that. Obviously, it is bad at high quantities.

I have a slide that they would probably object to now because it suggests that alcohol significantly decreases all-cause mortality if you are doing just one or two drinks. It decreases heart attacks and strokes. Overall mortality is decreased with small amounts.

If you look at the same overall risk of death with cigarettes versus alcohol consumption, one to five cigarettes per day is way off the line for alcohol. You would have to drink over five drinks a day to cause the same thing. One to five cigarettes is like a 50% increase in the risk of dying.

I have been drinking wine vigorously for 30 years. I probably breach the two-glass-a-day goal. There are days I only drink two, but most of the time my wife and I will have dinner and there are five glasses of wine in the bottle. I say we split it, but I'm probably a tad more.

Let's talk about the cancer risk if you don't drink at all versus if you drink those two a day. The overall risk of cancer for men goes up about 3% with two drinks a day. For women, it is supposed to be 5%, with three of those percent being breast cancer.

However, you are not looking at the fact that it is helpful in reducing strokes and heart attacks. The National Academy report released in December from the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine actually showed an overall decrease in mortality with alcohol consumption.

Yes, it does cause a little bit of risk, and that is the more recent finding. If a woman is drinking two drinks, it might cause one and a half more cases of breast cancer per 100 women. Even that evidence is so-so, but it is relatively new.

When I was treating cancer, I was a specialist in cancers of the oral cavity, head, neck, larynx, and esophagus. We knew those were usually caused by heavy smoking, but also increased by alcohol consumption. I never saw anybody who was just drinking one or two drinks a day without cigarette smoking come in with a cancer. It can happen, but it’s just not the major cause.

Now it is said that even breast cancer risk can be increased with low amounts of alcohol consumption. Colon and rectal cancer are not really that well known. Remember, there are also positive benefits and the risks are very low. We can cure those cancers, too. I don't want to belittle things, but I know I cured more than 50% of breast cancer, probably 90%.

With esophageal cancer, one of my greatest contributions as a radiation oncologist was bringing the cure rate from 0% to 20%. We combined chemotherapy and radiation, and we were doing as well as or better than surgery for that.

It is fascinating to hear you speak because you even approach winemaking from a scientific level. As two guys who have taken their passion and thrown it into wine, I hope you are able to get a voice heard to counteract what sounds like false information.

The real reason I am upset about it is because we are a fledgling industry in New Jersey. We have been around a long time, but in terms of really developing wonderful wines, it has been 20 years at most. The word is just starting to get out there.

This is a bad time for people to drink less wine because the small wineries and vineyards we have are not going to be able to sell their product. It disturbs me because my thrust wasn't to make a lot of money, but to show that this is an alternative that keeps New Jersey green.

You are right next to Cherry Hill, which is a beautiful town, but it used to be full of cherry trees. Keeping New Jersey green is now green in the wine business.

Tasting Screaming Eagle and Comparing NJ Wines

This next wine is a 2009. It is an amazing wine, probably the most expensive wine in the United States if you can get it. It is all Cabernet Sauvignon. It is Screaming Eagle. There are probably some pissed-off viewers out there saying these two wine guys from New Jersey are drinking their wine and comparing it to Screaming Eagle. Yes, we are.

I had never had it before, though I had certainly heard about it. I generally don't buy wines that are over $100 a bottle. It is extremely intense with a beautiful, almost sweetness to it. I'm sure there is no residual sugar, but it just bursts with flavor. Bill, I don't think we can make Cabernet Sauvignon like this, but that doesn't mean ours isn't as good. We can make fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon that is much more like Bordeaux.

I've been collecting wine for 30 years. People ask how the New Jersey winery is going. The large majority of the wine market is under $30 a bottle. If you go into a liquor store and buy a $30 bottle of New Jersey wine and a $30 bottle of Napa wine, they are going to be on par. We just can't make a hundred-dollar bottle yet.

With folks like you, Larry, and the excitement around New Jersey wine, I think we have a great shot. This bottle of Screaming Eagle is $1,200, and I could turn it around tomorrow and put it on auction for $3,000. I'm a collector, not a seller, but that is ridiculous.

One thing we don't have a problem with is getting sufficient alcohol, around 12% to 14%. This Screaming Eagle is 14.8%. Our grapes won't usually get that high; they would be raisins at that point.

The Terroir of Vineland and the Future of NJ Wine

Larry has a beautiful vineyard. He has a partner in Bellview Winery, Orley Ashenfelter, who is an amazing friend and the head economist for wine in the country. He is a Princeton professor. Most of the wine we get from him is Cabernet. There is something about the soil in Vineland that really surpasses others.

It is called Vineland for a reason. Most of the soil in our region is called Sassafras sandy loam. It is not uncommon, but ours has a lot of gravel in it, so it drains really well. I think that makes a difference.

As a kid, my grandparents were doing peaches, apples, and fruits. My father's generation did vegetables, like peppers and tomatoes. The current generation does mostly tomatoes. The Coia family has about 200 or 300 acres in Vineland. For vegetable farming, that is probably average.

Now with Bellview Winery, we have 50 acres of grapes. Jim Quarella is a tremendous farmer who grows grapes equally well. When I was going to buy the farm and didn't know anybody, someone said I had to call Jim Quarella at Bellview.

I cold-called this guy and he couldn't have been nicer. He introduced me to Vine Tech, who manages our vineyard, and he introduced us to you and Orley. Amy and I went down to Bellview and thought, "This is cool, we are going to do this."

Where are New Jersey wines going? I can tell you where I hope it goes. We have a little over 9 million people. I just read that New Jersey had one of the highest increases in population over the past year. Virginia has 8 million people and 200 wineries; we have 50.

We have as good or better conditions than Virginia, and we have Philadelphia and New York right here. I can't see it going anywhere but up, as long as people remain open-minded. Every article refers to the Sopranos or some negative thing about New Jersey. Let them do that, but also expose what is really going on.

We have a fantastic winemaker at Saddle Hill. Your winery, Bellview, does a great job, and there are others like Heritage, Sharrott, and Amalthea in the Outer Coastal Plain. But some New Jersey wineries are just putting grapes in a vat without a quality consciousness. That is what will pull us down.

Diversifying the Portfolio: Sweet vs. Dry Wines

I totally agree. There is a long-standing history of bringing in grapes from California for home winemaking. Now people are doing it because they can buy them cheaper and ship them across the state.

The other thing is that there is a clientele that still wants sweet wine. At Bellview, we have over 20 wines on the list, and a number of them are sweet because people still want them. They are made from native grapes and have a different flavor than a vinifera-based wine. We don't want to abandon our local clientele. If they want stuff with a 100-year history, we can still do that.

Hamilton is the blueberry capital, so the blueberry wine is pretty good. When I first got into this four years ago, I had never tasted fruit wine. It is an acquired taste.

When I sit with my winemaker to do the portfolio planning, I'll say I want 100 or 200 cases of something, and three months later, those cases are gone. We actually ran out of sweet wine recently. The only sweet wine we have left is our port style. We are getting reviews saying, "Don't go to Saddle Hill if you don't like dry wine."

We run into that too. There are a lot of younger people who like sweet wines, and then you have the older generations who grew up with things like Manischewitz or Catawba in the kitchen.

There are wineries in New Jersey that grow Concord grapes. Welch's got their start in Vineland, New Jersey, pasteurizing Concord grape juice. You can make a bottle of that wine for about $4 and retail it for $10.

Collaboration and Competition Among NJ Wineries

I want to touch on how competitive the different wineries in New Jersey are. It seems like you are all in this together. What winery owner starting a podcast would have one of his competitors on and promote his wine?

I think it benefits everybody. Here is where we compete: the person coming to Saddle Hill is probably not the same as someone going elsewhere, though real winery-goers want to try them all. The competition is really in selling to retail.

You go into these large liquor stores and they have a wall of New Jersey wines. I'll walk in and ask them to carry my wine, and they'll say they don't need another New Jersey wine. That is the competitive piece. But if a competitor is doing really well, it is good for us. I hope Bellview sells 25,000 cases a year because it trickles down to Saddle Hill.

It would be helpful if we had our wines in areas that aren't specifically designated as the "New Jersey wine" section. We do Cabernet Franc as well as anybody in the world. Why not put us with the other Cabernet Francs?

My winemaker and I created this magnificent painted bottle with a white horse on it because we are a horse farm on White Horse Road. Most of the 23 stores selling it today put that bottle in the regular sections, not just the New Jersey section. Whether it is a pretty bottle or not, you still have to have great juice.

Larry, I can't thank you enough for traveling all the way from West Palm Beach to drink some fantastic wine with us and share your story. We will have you back because we want to see where that goes with the Surgeon General and where the future of New Jersey wines continues to go.

Thank you very much. On behalf of Bill Green, we appreciate Dr. Larry Coia coming on. We'll see you again next time. I'm Jerrold Colton on Uncorked.