#ct wine

Top 3 Wines for October

October is one of my favorite months. The weather gets cooler, the leaves change, Halloween is around the corner, and big bold wines are in my future. Read below for the 3 wines I will be enjoying this month and which fall foods to par them with.

I don’t know about you, but when it’s fall I prefer warm, cozy, and comforting food. Try a local red like Chamard Vineyard’s…

Harvest Prep: Jim from Walker Road Vineyards

I was lucky enough to catch Jim Frye, owner of Walker Road for a few minutes before his crazy busy season started. We chatted about Harvest and what his pre-harvest traditions are over at Walker Road Vineyards. How do you get ready for harvest? “We start by harvesting our Marquette grapes.” The Marquette grape is the grandson of Frontenac and Pinot Noir. This grape creates a wine that is complex,…

Chamard Vineyards: Harvest Prep

I got to catch up with  winemaker Kristen Parsons of Chamard Vineyards. She was kind enough to give us a few minutes of her time to tell us how she prepares for her crazy busy season and their quirky harvest traditions. Wine we make first: We make wine depending on which grape comes in first.  In the fall, the California grapes ripen first.  For our estate grapes, the Chardonnay usually is the…

National Cabernet Day at Chamard Vineyards

National Cabernet Day is one of my all-time favorite days (August 31st, put it on your calendar for next year) 😉 Cabernet is one of my favorite wines because it is full of complexity. Exposing dark berry flavors such as black cherry, blackberry, raspberry, and black currants on the nose and palate.  Most producers will also introduce it to some sort of oak infusion. This usually means the wine…

I got to catch up with owner and winemaker Amanda Brackett of Southern Connecticut Wine Company. She owns Connecticut’s First Micro Winery located in Wallingford, CT. Make sure to stop by for a tasting of some delicious and exciting wine blends! Amanda was kind enough to give us a few minutes of her time to tell us how she prepares for her crazy busy season. Check out how she gets into “harvest…

Get Ready for the 2017 CT Wine Festival

Who’s Ready for the CT Wine Festival???!!!! Personally I can’t wait. Every year some of Connecticut’s best CT Grown wine producers come together to celebrate their community and delicious wines. Every year I go home with a new love of CT Grown wine and usually a bag full of favorites. This year the festival has a record number of wineries participating –  16 in total!  Along with the wineries…

Frontenac Gris in CT

Super excited about Hawk Ridge Winery’s new release of their Frontenac Gris. A gorgeous golden starw color. The wine has notes of honey dew melon and honey suckle. The wine is well balanced and deliciously unique. Can’t wait to taste more of what Hawk Ridge Winery has to offer when they open this June! 🍷 #drinklocal Hawk Ridge Winery is scheduled to open June of 2017. They are located in…

Yes, we’ve been there many times just to check out the tasting room or have stopped in after heading over to Pumpkinseed Hill to stock up on pumpkins and all kinds of harvest goodies. For our first few times, we felt that their strongest and best wines were the sweet, fruit and dessert ones, but after a recent visit a couple of months back, we were impressed with their improved quality. We were particularly happy with the Stonewall Chard, their Rosé (we bought our own for Thanksgiving), the Ripton Red, and of course Harvest Time.

At the winery you can find:

Whites

Pinot Gris 2012

Stonewall Chard

Woodlands White

Rosé

Rosé of Cab Franc (not many left)

Red Wines

Cab Franc Vinter Select 2012

Merlot

Ripton Red

Beacon Light 8

Fruit Wines

Strawberry Serenade sparkling

First Blush

Harvest Time

Dessert Wines

Raspberry Rhapsody (sold out as of now)

Black Currant Bouquet (sold out as of now)

Blueberry Bliss (sold out as of now)

Seven Generations port-style (soon to be released)

Local stores also have Jone’s wines, so keep them in mind when you’re out searching for some wine. In addition, it’s always a fun time to stop by the tasting room. Each tasting is just $7.95 with tax for 7 tastes of wine that you pick and you get to keep a Jone’s Winery glass, too. When you find that perfect wine, you can order a glass if you’d like or buy a bottle or two.

Also, when you’re checking out, don’t forget to look around their shop for more local CT products that are hard to find. Here are the hours that you need to know about for visiting this holiday season:

Wine Sales: Monday-Saturday, 10-5:30 and Sunday, 11-5:30

Weekends: Complimentary tastings of selected wines Saturday, 10-5:30 and Sunday, 11-5:30

Weekdays: Wine tastings Monday-Friday from 12-5

Christmas Eve: They are open until 4, so you can stock up for the holidays.

December 27-30: Wine tasting and sales from 11-5

December 31: Wine tastings and sales 11-2 so you can stock up for New Year’s!