À votre santé!

Entering the final stretch of a spectacular fall foliage season along the ridges and valleys of western Connecticut, not to be outdone are the proud members of the Connecticut Wine Trail as they mark this year”™s harvest and press on in their own labor of love.

At the Big E fair in Springfield, Mass. last month, Gouveia Vineyards was crowned as the top grape wine, a major achievement for the Wallingford winery that was pitted against entries from New York”™s Finger Lakes wine country. Gouveia Vineyards”™ vintage cabernet franc beat out entries from more than 45 Northeast wineries, most of which entered multiple wines for consideration.

Welcome to wine country. Gouveia Vineyards is one of two dozen wineries that dot the Connecticut Wine Trail. Many are well into their own harvest festivals, with cheese also on the menu at this week”™s Connecticut Wine and Cheese Festival at Hopkins Vineyard in Preston, Fondue Night at Haight-Brown Vineyard in Litchfield, or even Brookfield”™s DiGrazia Vineyards with its “Gourmet Grilled Cheese on the Patio” event this past weekend.

If this is the time of year we celebrate the harvest and by extension the vintages of tomorrow, know that the Connecticut Wine Trail is open for business long past when the last leaves have been bagged ”“ right up through the December holidays, in fact, when Jones Winery in Shelton has scheduled “sip and savor suppers” on how to select wines for entertaining or as gifts for friends and family.

“When people ask me which of my wines is my favorite, I say that they are like my children and I love them all,” says winemaker Jamie Jones.

We could say the same about Connecticut”™s small but spectacular trail of vineyards.

Cheers!