Sharing Secrets

I was kinda torn about writing this post. For completely selfish reasons. Which is kind of rude. But I am telling you about it anyway. Mmm hold. This is already getting confusing.

Here’s how I was introduced to the Connecticut Wine Trail:

I was hanging out with an incredibly handsome guy who I wanted to spend basically every moment with. (Guys, it was Tom. We date.) We had gone to lunch and when we were just about finished and I’m all “crappp I’m trying hang out forev with you. I gotta think of something to do next!” My Stuff To Do On Weekends list is really not impressive (plus, like everything on the list includes eating and I was trying to impress this guy) so I default to “what do you wanna do after this?” and he goes, (because he was totally into me and wanted to hang out forevs too) “I was thinking we’d check out the wine trail.” No idea what you're referring to but did you mention wine? If he was in and wine was involved too? Act like I’mma say no. So we head out to a vineyard in Litchfield called Haight-Brown and I’m blown away, it’s SO COOL and classy and fun and there is so. much. wine. We did a tasting, following his lead as he tells me about the whole deal. And now I’m gonna tell you the deal.

There WERE 32 last year but I guess they're more exclusive so now there are 25 vineyards on the CT Wine Trail. Crazy tho right? CT is tiny but we got mad grapes apparently. They’re spread out all over the state and they’re all really fun! There are clusters of them in certain areas (which is perf for a vineyard crawl. It has happened and will happen again) Here is the most recent map of all of them.

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They sell bottles that you can take home or enjoy there. They provide glasses and if you do a tasting (that's the most fun) you get to keep the glasses (included in the price. I think so people like me don't just take them). The tastings are usually $6-$12. You can also just get a glass of your fav and have a picnic (aka order chinese take out and bring it in a basket. FYI sesame chicken pairs well with Sauvignon Blanc). We also take Lil to ones that allow pups.

 

That isn't wine dripping down my chin I just have an awkward vein..

Hammered. Just kidding. Lil is allergic to booze. Really

Hammered. Really tho.

Tom and his friends had been going for a few years before he met me. I had never heard of it but now it’s my favorite thing to do on a sunny weekend. Here’s the selfish part: Now that I have been told about it, I want the wine trail to myself. Now that I know about it I want to go whenever and have there be an open spot at the tasting counter waiting for us. Unrealistic? Maybe. Fair? I think so. It’s so awesome tho I have to share it. (But don’t go on the days I’m going.)

Yea, one of the vineyards has llamas and goats

Last year Tom and I weren’t on top of our shit but the year before we visited, I wanna say 19 vineyards. (I checked with Tom, it was 19) Besides loving wine, there is another reason to hit as many as you can. They do a passport program. It starts May 1^st and ends early November. You visit a vineyard on or after May 1^st, they give you a little passport book and each page has a vineyard on it. You get a stamp at each vineyard you go to and then if you visit half of the vineyards (the number changes every year) you hand in your passport and you could win a trip for two to Spain, Portugal, France or another country in Europe to tour their vineyards. Fucking sweet right? Plus you get hammered in the process.

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These are our favorites/ must visits:

Sunset Meadow – Tom's fav white wine: Cayuga White. He drank a bottle in a about an hour last year. Surprise drunk!

Jonathan Edwards – Delicious win (our friends who moved to Dallas ordered a "3 bottles every 3 months" package from this place! Great tasting room and the property is super pretty.

Saltwater Farm – AWESOME Wine, such a cool place and nick named "The Wedding Factory"

Priam – Loves Lil and theres a ton of room for her to play

Chamard – They now have a bistro that I'm looking forward to trying and it's next to the Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets (this is the one we went to in this post)

Gouveia – Senimental reasons mostly, but the view is AMAZING

ALSO- I Want It That Way just came on the radio. YES. Really tho, what I was gonna say is groupon has deals for vineyards on the regs so it's a great way to try it out!

My awesome boyfriend put this list together- for us but fo you guys too!

The ones in red are no longer part of the trail.

1. Arrigoni Winery
2. Bishop’s Orchards Winery in Guilford
3. Cassidy Hill Vineyard
4. Chamard Vineyards in Clinton
5. Connecticut Valley Winery in New Hartford
6. Connecticut Wine Festival
7. Crystal Ridge Winery in Glastonbury
8. Dalice Elizabeth Winery
9. DiGrazia Vineyards in Brookfield
10. Gouveia Vineyards in Wallingford
11. Haight-Brown Vineyard in Litchfield
12. Heritage Trails Vineyard
13. Holmberg Orchards & Winery in Ledyard
14. Hopkins Vineyard in Warren
15. Jerram Winery in New Hartford
16. Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington
17. Jones Family Farms and Winery in Shelton
18. Land of Nod Winery in East Canaan
19. Lost Acres Vineyard
20. Maugle Sierra Vineyards in Ledyard
21. McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook
22. Miranda Vineyard in Goshen
23. Paradise Hills Vineyard in Wallingford
24. Priam Vineyards in Colchester
25. Rosedale Farms & Vineyard in Simsbury
26. Saltwater Farm Vineyard in Stonington
27. Savino Vineyards
28. Sharpe Hill Vineyard in Pomfret
29. Stonington Vineyards in Stonington
30. Sunset Meadow Vineyards in Goshen
31. Taylor Brook Winery in Woodstock
32. Walker Road Vineyards
33. White Silo Winery in Sherman

Linking up: