Last weekend Dan & I got to go to the Connecticut Wine Trail Festival in Goshen, CT. I’d been excited for this event for months! The wine trail festival highlights various vineyards that are a part of the Connecticut Wine Trail. There are also all kinds of local vendors there offering various locally made goodies & food!
We were a little sad to see that it was dark & cloudy as we made the hour-long drive to Goshen. By the time we got to the Goshen Fairgrounds for the event, it started to sprinkle. Luckily, we managed to get into the first barn of vineyard vendor tables before it really started to pour!
[caption id="attachment_864" align="alignnone" width="960"]
my free wine glass![/caption]
Each person got a free wine glass & wine botte tote bag! I didn’t realize we would be getting them, so I was really excited. :)
The first vineyard we checked out was Bishop Orchards. I went for the Honey Peach Melba & Dan got the Apple Raspberry Blush. Both were a little sweet, but very refreshing!
[caption id="attachment_865" align="alignnone" width="960"]
the honey peach melba.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_866" align="alignnone" width="960"]
dan’s apple raspberry blush in the foreground.[/caption]
Quickly after we got our first glasses of wine, the storm really picked up. I was impressed by how quickly the people working and volunteering for the festival were able to get all attendees into one of the “wine barns.” They ensured that everyone was inside and safe!
Everyone stood in their wine barns, happy to be stuck in a barn full of wine instead of in the rain. :)
Okay so you can’t really see the rain in this picture, but it really was pouring.
I’ve got to say that if you are going to be stuck inside during a bad storm, the best place to be is in a barn full of wine with people who are a little tipsy. Everyone was SO friendly, and we had fun hanging out in our barns. :)
It turns out that it was a good thing they moved everyone into the barn because a HUGE bolt of lightning struck the bathroom building! It was so powerful and loud that we could feel it inside our chests, and the lights in our building shut off for a few seconds. Later I went to use the bathroom and asked the bathroom attendants about it–they said they were in the building, and sparks flew out of the lights when the lightning hit! Luckily, everyone was okay.
Eventually, the rain let up, and just in time–after all that wine tasting, I really needed a cheeseburger.
waiting ever so elegantly for my cheeseburger to be ready. :)[/caption]
Can we talk for a second about my calf in that last picture? Take a close look. What is going on there? I think it’s muscles, but man, do they look weird.
As expected, wine + waiting for a cheeseburger = silly fun.
[caption id="attachment_871" align="alignnone" width="960"]
sippin’ on “ghost wine”[/caption]
People started to venture back out to check out the vendors, but since we had plans for later that evening, we continued on with the wine tasting after our burgers to ensure we got to try each vineyard.
There were 13 vineyards at the festival, and we tried a little wine at each one!
Overall, the event was really fun! The only thing that I didn’t like was the fact that out of the four wines that every vineyard had available for tastings, I’d say that 98% of them were sweet wines. Very few wines had “normal” kinds of wine. I didn’t see a single Merlot, Cabernet, Chianti, or Sauv Blanc! There were a few Chardonnays available, but I wasn’t a big fan of any of them.
Still, we found three wines that we purchased full bottles of:
- Rhubarb wine from White Silo Winery
- Summer Peach wine from Taylor Brooke Winery
- Autumn Spice wine from DiGrazia Vineyards
We’ll definitely be back next year, but I do hope that the vineyards bring a few more traditional wines…and that it’s sunny. :)
Here’s a list of the vineyards we got to “visit” at the festival:
- Bishop’s Orchards Winery (Guilford)
- Priam Vineyards (Colchester)
- Miranda Vineyard (Goshen)
- Jonathan Edwards Winery (North Stonington)
- Sharpe Hill Vineyard (Pomfret)
- Gouveia Vineyards (Wallingford)
- Sunset Meadow Vineyards (Goshen)
- DiGrazia Vineyards (Brookfield)
- White Silo Farm & Winery (Sherman)
- Jones Winery (Shelton)
- Taylor Brooke Winery (Woodstock)
- Stonington Vineyards (Stonington)
- Hopkins Vineyard (Warren)
Have you ever been to the CT Wine Festival, or other wine festivals?
Do you enjoy sweet wines, or more traditional wines?
my name is katie and I'm a blogger based in connecticut. This is the place where I chat about the many interests I have! I love to cook & eat. I'm an aspiring fitness nut, and an occasional crafter. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures!
” didn’t see a single Merlot, Cabernet, Chianti, or Sauv Blanc!”
– You’re in the wrong state. Grapes for those wines generally don’t grow in CT. Some wineries in CT do “make” wines in those families, but the grapes will usually be from CA.
I never knew that! Thanks for the information–I really don’t know much about wine, other than the fact that I like to drink it. :) Do the grapes that do grow in CT kind of lend themselves to sweet wines, as I tasted at the festival?
Chances are, many of the “sweet” wines you tried at the festival were made from fruits rather than wine grapes. Bishops Orchards does a lot of fruit wines. Many of Connecticut’s “estate wines” – wines made exclusively from grapes grown on their properties – are done with hardier grapes that can handle the local climate.
Oh man, I have a lot to learn about wine! A lot of them did mention specific fruits, so that makes a lot of sense. It was definitely interesting stuff, but I guess I’m more of a “traditional” wine girl! It was a nice change of pace, but a little too much sweetness for one afternoon.
Your photos are so, so lovely DIANA. I actually was admiring your calf in the cheeseburger-waiting pic. Then I saw that you’d already commented on it. Well, I think it looks muscular and worthy of admiration. I love the photo of the couple under the umbrella. And of your free wine glass. Free wine glasses always get me so pumped! Glad that it worked out despite the rain and EEP lightning. Good thing I couldn’t make it to this event anyway because all that sweet wine wouldn’t be my thing. I like a good Riesling but prefer my dry, biting reds!
Haha, I’m gonna go ahead and call it calf muscle. :) It was so fun! I finally got to use my nice lens at this event, so I was glad the pictures came out well. I love taking photos! I’m not a big sweet wine fan either, but I still enjoyed the event–it was a very social evening. I bet you’d still enjoy it!
Looks like a great time despite rain! Great pictures. My favorite CT winery is Jones in Shelton. They have a great farmer’s market outside of their tasting room every Friday with live music and tastings! It’s always a lot of fun! Maybe next year I will finally make it to the wine festival!!
Ooo! I’ve never been to Jones. I’ll have to give it a shot. Live music sounds like a neat twist on your typical wine tasting! :)
This is my type of fun! *as I’m sipping on my moscato* Great pic of you with your wine glass. I was checking out your legs in your pic of you with the umbrella before you even mentioned it….I’m jealous…I want nice defined legs like that…they don’t look weird at all silly! Have a lovely weekend! ~Cheers
Haha, thanks girl! Even though I’m not a big fan of sweet wines, moscato is nice once in a while. :)
Pingback: local love | willimantic brewing company » the simple songbird.