Wine-ing about a new hobby

Ryan and I both have our share of hobbies.  He's outdoorsy in a woods/mountain/camping kind of way and I'm outdoorsy in a beach/boats/crabbing kind of way.  We both love sports, dancing, and music.  He watches an Oscar Best Picture movie every week with his friends, I watch Real Housewives and Dallas.  And while, for the most part, our hobbies come together well and we each are happy to give each other's hobby a try, we recently accidentally stumbled upon a new hobby both of us can now claim as ours.

On a recent visit to Connecticut for the Sacred Heart University Discovery Gala (which Ryan and I attended because I'm the President of the Alumni Association) we had some time to kill on a beautiful day so we decided a great way to see some hidden parts of Connecticut (and get a little tipsy) was through the Connecticut Wine Trail.

That day we checked out three wineries, Jones Winery, McLaughlin Vineyards, and DiGrazia Vineyards. All were within a really short distance from the Fairfield, Connecticut vicinity.  Jones' property was beautiful, with it's older farm machinery, collection of pick up trucks, beautiful red barn, and farm houses.  The wine tasting room was great and the wine pourers were well-versed in their selection of wines.  We wound up purchasing two bottles each of two types of wine that stood out to us: Beacon Light - a red which we both agreed we enjoyed the story behind it.  (Apparently the vineyards are now on an old airfield and that particular beacon was the one that would guide the aircraft home.) and Strawberry Serenade - a sparkling strawberry wine that was very exciting on the tongue.

On our way to the next winery, we came across a hidden gem - a llama farm!  Llamas are my favorite animal! I just can't resist them and how stupid they look.  We turned around, pulled off the road, and spent about 40 minutes talking to a whole bunch of llamas.  We had some good laughs as the llamas were engaged in some llama llovin' but when they were done they were happy to show us some llove too.  I'm not sure Ryan knew what he was getting into when I told him llamas are my favorite animal.  I don't think he realized just how much I like them but it seems like he's found a new appreciation for them as well as it was his idea to try to kiss them.

 When Ryan could finally pry me away from the llamas (and after I couldn't figure out a way to get one of them home with us - sure they could stick their head out my sunroof but where would I keep him in my 1 bedroom apartment?)  we went on to our second winery, McLaughlin.  This one is a little off the beaten path, as there's a pretty long drive down a dirt road to finally get to the tasting place.  While the grounds were very nice, we were not at all impressed with the wine offerings.  They seemed bitter.  And they were served in a stemless glass, which we are not fans of. The young girl who assisted us was not very friendly and seemed to rush us through our tasting without offering much information on what we were actually consuming.   It was here that we decided we would make it a point to only buy wines that are something different or have a good story.  We took more away from being in the town of Sandy Hook, Connecticut and seeing how it was recovering after the community's tragic school shooting.  One thing is for certain, that community has bonded together and it is not letting that terrible event define the town's spirit.

 Our final stop on this wine trail for the day was a little ways away and was a quaint house rather than a large vineyard.  Digrazia's warm tasting room combined with the knowledgeable wine pourers who, I'd assume were a couple and familiarly connected to the wine itself, made the experience very enjoyable.  We tasted so many wines (they even threw in an additional wine tasting for the same price) that it was hard to make up our minds on which we wanted.  I can't remember the one of the bottles we purchased but the other was a delicious pomegranate based wine called Paragran that was absolutely perfect for a crisp day.  I would love to go back and try the Wild Blue, a blueberry wine, but they were completely sold out that day.

On another trip to New England, this time to Vermont, we found another unexpected gem called Why Not Wine in Hoosick, New York.  This little shop of local New York wines is, as of right now, my favorite of the wineries we have been to.  The woman behind the counter was a lot of fun and took care of us even though we walked in after hours.  The wine was like candy, and we are definitely sweet, fruity wine people.  She nailed our tastes perfectly and this too was a hard decision on which to buy.  We walked out with five bottles, most of which have already been consumed, but a trip in the next few weeks will definitely include a stop in to restock for the summer.

We are looking forward to visiting all of the 26 wineries of the Connecticut Wine Trail very soon and discovering some in our own state too!