Gouveia Vineyards ~ The Whites (Connecticut)

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

The tasting started, as all tastings do, with the Whites.  Gouveia produces five whites, 3 of which were available on the tasting menu the day I stopped by.  First up was the

Chardonnay Oak  This is a dry Chardonnay aged 12 months in American Oak.  The color is a pale yellow – almost, but not quite straw.  The nose is delicate with pleasant floral notes which set a nice tone for the wine without being overpowering.  In the mouth, the wine is slightly buttery and has a slight acidity which balances the wine nicely.  The oak is a nice complement, producing a faint smokiness which rounds out the wine without overwhelming it.

Gouveia also produces a Chardonnay that is aged 12 months in stainless steel; the tasting notes indicate is a “non-traditional varietal.”  Unfortunately it wasn’t available the day I stopped by, but I plan on stopping by some Saturday evening soon and buying a bottle of both the oak-fermentation and the stainless steel fermentation and sampling them back-to-back.  I’m always fascinated by the contrasts between similar wines produced by the same vineyard.

After the Chardonnay, we proceeded to the

Cayuga White   Cayuga is a popular grape in Connecticut.  Originally developed in the Finger Lakes region of New York, it is a hardy grape that grows well in colder climates, like Connecticut.  Gouveia’s Cayuga is a semi-dry, crisp and refreshing white wine.  Like the Chardonnay, it is also a pale yellow, almost straw color.  The nose has lovely notes of citrus, particularly grapefruit, and peach.  In the mouth, the citrus and the peach provide a really nice balance – the peach smoothing out some of the acidity and sharpness of the citrus while also providing a touch of sweetness. 

And the whites finished with the

Stone House White  A semi-sweet wine, the Stone House White is a blend of Chardonnay, Seyval Blanc and Vignoles fermented primarily in stainless steel.  The color is a lovely light golden-yellow, and the nose has notes of grass and hints of green pepper.  The wine is definitely the sweetest of the three whites I tried that day, and while the wine is nicely blended in the mouth, I found I preferred the drier Chardonnay and Cayuga wines.

While not available for tasting on the day I visited, Gouveia also produces a Seyval Blanc, “a crisp, white wine with a hint of fruit”; and the Chardonnay Steel, “a non-traditional varietal aged for 12 months in stainless steel.”

With that we rinsed glasses and palates and moved on to the Reds…

Tags: Gouveia Vineyards

This entry was posted on April 14, 2009 at 12:01 am and is filed under Connecticut, Connecticut Wine Trail, Eastern Connecticut Wine Trail, local wines, Marguerite Barrett, Win(e)ding Roads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.