Portland, CT
Connecticut is developing a wine industry, and a number of new wineries have opened in the last decade or so. On a recent Sunday drive my wife and I came across this winery located in Portland, CT and of course we had to stop for a tasting. I learned the winery has only been open for about a year. I didn't see many acres of vineyards and was told they have grapes planted, but they haven't matured yet for harvesting, so the wine they produce here come from grapes purchased from other areas, including the Finger Lakes region of New York. It might be another year or more before they'll have locally produced wine available here. I don't consider myself an oenophile but having tasted the wines here, I think I can safely say that California has little to worry about in terms of competition, at least from this winery. Being such a new winery, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and might return to taste again after they've had a few years of experience. I think this wine barrel is pretty cool though.
Arrigoni. It must be near the Arrigoni Bridge to Middletown.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Jack. It's located just east of the bridge on CT 66. In fact the winery is named after the Arrigoni Bridge.
DeleteEd, it takes seven years before grape vines come into full production. Some grapes can be harvested after the third year. Before that all grape clusters should be removed as they will stunt the growth of the vine and limit their future productivity forever. Vineyards are springing up everywhere, even in SD, but you are right about them being no threat to California wine.
ReplyDeleteFine wine barrel photo. That winery just wishes it could fill it with fine wine.
It's going to take some to fill that barrel. I know that at one time Connecticut subsidized start up wineries with tax breaks which allowed the wineries to produce wine from grapes grown out of state, while they waited for their own vines to mature. Eventually, though, the winery would have to produce wines mainly from their own vines. It's still a very young industry here.
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