Connecticut Wine Trail

Connecticut has a wine trail?  You can imagine my surprise when driving through Wallingford, CT, one bright sunny day, and seeing a blue sign on the side of the road pointing this way to the Connecticut Wine Trail.  How good could Connecticut wine be?  Well, actually quite good, depending on where you go.

Our first stop on the wine trail was at Stonington Vineyards, in Stonington.  http://www.stoningtonvineyards.com/
Their Seaport White is our favorite white wine...it's light, refreshing, and slightly bubbly.  I highly recommend it.  When at The Hills in Waterbury CT for my bridal lunch we all drank Seaport White.

Next was Jonathon Edwards, also in Stonington.   http://www.jedwardswinery.com/wines/  This vineyard felt like we were not in Connecticut.  The acres were sprawling with grape vines and there was a wine cellar you could walk in to, filled with wine barrels.  One disappointment after seeing the beauty of this place was that most of their grapes are imported from California due to poor growing conditions here in CT.  However, Jonathon Edwards is worth the visit for the experience!

Next was McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook, CT.  http://mclaughlinvineyards.com/  This place was adorable and very country-cozy.  There is a wood stove inside which was fabulous because we went on a snowy day in January.  The wine here was mediocre at best and even the labels on the bottles were not attractive.  However, it was very cute here.

Digrazia Vineyards in Brookfield, CT: Now HERE is the place to be!  http://www.digrazia.com/  A doctor makes the wines and he tries to create wines with high antioxidant levels.  He has won awards for such wines.  Our favorites included Paragran, a wine made strictly from California pomegranates and Connecticut pears, no grapes included.  Another was their blueberry brandy which was thick, much sweeter than I usually like, but really delicious!  The scenery at Digrazia is not as pretty BUT it is so worth it to go there for all of their fantastic wines.  I highly recommend them.

Jones Winery in Shelton, CT: decent wines, very busy place.  http://jonesfamilyfarms.com/  There is a farm, they have cooking classes, and the area in which they do wine tastings was packed when we went on a Saturday afternoon.  Sort of defeated the purpose of a relaxing afternoon and wine tasting...there were too many people bumping into us!  However, they did have some good wines, particularly their strawberry blush, which was a fruity sweet yet dry strawberry wine with a hint of carbonation.  It was sparkly and delicious, a great dessert wine or wonderful for a celebration.