That was my response to reading about vineyards in my home state. I spent two years in California. Went wine tasting along the central coast and discovered amazing wines–a pear flavored dessert wine where I could taste the pears. And I hardly ever taste anything they tell me I should.

Anyway, it was July 4th week and Mom had commissioned me to find fun tasks in our state. Daily staycations.

That’s when I found out about the Connecticut Wine Trail. There are about 20 vineyards around the state with tasting rooms and even tours. I found some amazing places in Stonington, but dad vetoed them. A 1.5 hour drive was not part of his staycation itinerary.

There were two in Litchfield which was about 30 minutes from our home base. We took Aunt C for our rollicking adventures in the farmlands of CT.

The first winery,

Hopkins Vineyard didn’t have tours, but they had a nice tasting room and adorable souvenir store. Both were air-conditioned and provided a comfy place to wine taste.

The tasting was $6.50 per person for 8 wines.

Dad, Aunt C and I lined up at the counter. Mom’s not a drinker so she hung out with us and sniffed our wines. We all have different wine tastes. I prefer sweet, Dad prefers red and dry, Aunt C falls somewhere in between but closer to Dad’s tastes.

What I loved was when the wine pourer told us that you could taste the oak in the wine. Aunt C remarked how oak was not in her taste memory. She planned to remedy that by biting into a tree later that day.

We were advised to take 3 sips of each sample. The third sip would give us the true taste of the wine.

Dad and Aunt C appreciated the Red Barn Red and the Cabernet Franc. I leaned toward the Westwind Riesling.

The neat thing was that I actually tasted some of the things the pourer mentioned. The Cabernet Franc has a currant flavor and a black pepperness to it. Very cool.

They had many award winning wines…

We each found a wine or two we liked and made purchases before leaving.

We headed off to the Haight-Brown Vineyard next.

It’s adorable outside and really nice inside, but there was no a/c which made it a lot less comfy considering it was on the second floor and heat rises.

They also offer a basic tasting of their 8 wines for $9. I opted to add chocolate and was charged $12.

The majority of their wines were whites. Dad ended up pouring most of his tastings into the spittoon. He’s not a fan of whites.

For me, the chocolate took away the sweetness of the wines and I didn’t really fall in love with any of them. We did end up purchasing a Strawberry Bliss because Dad and Aunt C assured me it was super sweet and strawberry tasting. I figured Grandma H and I could split it. She loves sweet wine and strawberries and pink. Which it was.

They had a cool wine called Honey Nut Apple which tasted like apple pie. It was made completely from apples!

Dad got the Picnic Red which we had at Aunt C’s the following weekend for at a delicious BBQ.

So yes, Virginia, there is wine tasting in CT and it is a pretty fun experience.

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