Continued from Thursday, November 12

Both Christy and I found the reds to be interesting, fruity and quite enjoyable, and we definitely preferred them to the whites.  We also found ourselves somewhat puzzled as to why the staff so preferred the Winthrop White and Sweet Reserve over any of the reds.  But that’s the beauty of a tasting menu; hopefully there’s something for everyone somewhere on the list.

Heritage Trail currently produces three reds, beginning with the

Shetucket Red A blend of Rubiana grape (another grape developed by Cornell University) and Merlot, the Shetucket Red is a surprisingly pleasant drinkable table wine.  Garnet colored, the nose is lovely with rich cherry notes and that “sea-air tang” that I often find in northeastern reds.  Aged for one year in French oak, the wine is on the light side of medium-bodied with subtle notes of cherry and light spice on the end which provides an interesting finish.

Rochambeau Red Heritage Trail’s newest wine – 2007 was the first year produced – the Rochambeau Red is a blend of Villard Noir, Chambourcin, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon fermented in stainless steel for 20 days and then transferred to aged French Oak and racked in American oak.  The result is a lighter-bodied table wine with soft notes of cherry and dark berries and pleasant notes of toast on the finish.

Cabernet Franc The tasting finished with Heritage Trail’s Cabernet Franc.  A deep garnet color, this is a medium-bodied wine with a soft nose with nice notes of cherry.  In the mouth, cherry is again the predominant note with a pleasant vanilla finish from the oak.  This isn’t one of the strongest Cabernet Francs on the Connecticut Wine Trail, but it’s a eminently drinkable wine and my personal favorite of the Heritage Trail wine list.

Having finished up the tastings, we each ordered a glass, me of the Cab Franc and Christy the Shetucket Red and settled back to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of Heritage Trail’s lovely views in the late afternoon summer sun.

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Continued from Tuesday, November 10th.

To our surprise, the tastings weren’t presented according to the printed tasting menu, and we actually began with the two sweeter whites before moving on to to the lighter, drier whites.  It was an interesting choice, explained to some degree, by our server’s announcing that the first two she was pouring for us were her favorites among the Heritage Trail wines.  Unfortunately, they weren’t ours.  The first selection was the

Winthrop White.  100% Cayuga estate grapes, the tasting notes indicate that this is Heritage Trail’s “Estate Boutique label.”   It’s a sweeter wine, almost too sweet, but is completely overpowered by the nose which is very earthy and bordering on unpleasant.  As this was our first wine of the tasting, both Christy and I thought the odors were from the glass – as if it had been washed in extremely hard water.  But after surreptitiously sniffing our water glasses, we realized it was the wine.  The nose has a strong, pungent, mustiness which Christy said reminded her of the smell of a manure.  Interestingly, you don’t taste the earthiness; the wine itself is light and sweet.  With a softer – or fruitier – nose, the wine would have been quite pleasant, but we just couldn’t get past the nose.

We quickly moved on to the

Sweet Reserve A blend of 70% Cayuga and 30% Seyval grapes, this, as the name implies, is another sweet wine.  The tasting notes indicate this is a semi-sweet wine, but it more closely resembles a sweet dessert wine.  In the mouth, there are lovely notes of citrus and apricot, although there is a strong citrus/acid bite at the end which was a bit startling.  But as with the Winthrop White, what we tasted was overshadowed by what we smelled: another strong, musty, earthy nose.  Not as pungent as the Winthrop White, we still found the nose unpleasant and had a hard time getting past it to enjoy the wine.

We were thinking about saying something to our server when she returned, particularly given that she had been so enthusiastic about these wines when she poured them.  Perhaps we had gotten tastings from a couple of  bad bottles?  But then we overheard a different server saying to the people next to us who had openly commented on the smell, “oh yes, we get that a lot; people often say they find the nose to be very strong…”  and we realized, no we didn’t get a bad bottle.  But it did make me wonder why they didn’t mention the nose upfront and perhaps explain what it is we were smelling and why…

Christy suggested it might be the grapes – both were predominantely Cayuga.  Maybe the nose was a hallmark of the grapes?  But we’ve both had a number of Cayuga wines at other wineries, and didn’t have this reaction to the nose.  We then started to worry that perhaps this was a hallmark of all the Heritage Trail wines.   Luckily the next wine was much more to our liking…

Quinebaug White Another Cayuga blend, this time with Vidal, the Quinebaug is a light-bodied white wine, drier wine with a touch of sweetness.  The nose is pleasantly earthy, with grassy notes.  In the mouth, the wine has subtle notes of citrus and pear with a crisp finish.    We both liked this wine, although in all honesty, some of what we liked was that it didn’t have the nose of the first two wines.  Finally, we finished up the whites with the

Chardonnay This is an unoaked Chardonnay with a soft, fruity nose with notes of grapefruit.  In the mouth, the wine is smooth with lovely notes of grapefruit and a nice balance of acid at the finish.  Very nice Chardonnay, particularly for those who prefer their Chardonnays without oak.

With the whites behind us, we rinsed our glasses and awaited the Reds…

Continued on Tuesday, November 17th.

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As Christy and I drove down Route 169 everything seemed vaguely familiar, and I realized that not only had I been to Heritage Trail before, it was the first winery I wrote about for Vino Verve.  I can’t remember why I started the wine trail there in the late Fall of 2007 – or why I didn’t post anything until January 2008 – or why I switched over to the Western Trail on the other side of the state shortly afterwards – but as we pulled into the winery grounds, that first visit almost two years ago came back to me.

Since that visit the winery has acquired new owners, who have expanded the offerings to include a cafe with extensive lunch and dinner menus overseen by Heritage Trail’s Owner and Creative and Culinary Director, Chef Harry Schwartz; his wife Laurie is the winery’s Vintner.

The winery grounds and buildings are largely as I remembered, with the 18th century farmhouse serving as the property’s focal point.   When I first visited, though, the tasting room was in the back of the house – a side door led you into a large sun-room that served as the winery’s tasting room.   With the turnover in ownership, the Schwartz’s have moved the tasting room out of the main house and into the old 18th century barn which they have turned into a combined cafe/tasting room.  The cafe is surprisingly large and can probably seat 20-30 inside, and a large patio and veranda overlooking the expansive lawns and vineyards could hold another 30-4o guests.   They provide full service both inside and outside, even with tastings – a nice change from other wineries that provide patio seating, but don’t serve tastings directly at the tables.

The cafe menu is both varied and extensive and features both a lunch and a dinner menu – another surprise given that this is a relatively small venue.  The food is prepared onsite in the kitchens built into the back of the cafe, and features fresh local produce wherever possible.  In addition to Heritage Trail, the Schwartz’s also own Meadowstone Cheese in Brooklyn, Connecticut, and the cafe menus feature a number of dishes with local Meadowstone cheeses.   Some of the menu highlights include Wasabi Butterflies (fresh goat cheese flavored with wasabi crisp flatbread “wings”), the Lobster BLT, Smoked Chicken Wasabi Goat Cheese Panini, thin and crispy herbed mediterranean pizza with local cheeses, and the homemade gelato.

And, of course, the wines – which is what drew us there that afternoon.  Heritage Trail produces 7 wines, four whites and three reds.  A tasting of all seven wines will run you $7, with an additional $5 if you want to bring home a signature wine glass after your tasting.  Or, if you prefer, you can select the “Grand Pairing for 2″ which includes the full tasting menu for two people plus a selection of fresh goat and cow cheeses from Meadowstone Farms.

Christy and I had already stopped for lunch earlier that afternoon, so we opted for a tasting (each) outside on the patio – first up, the Winthrop White…

Continued on November 12th with the Heritage Trail Whites.

Heritage Trail Vineyards
291 N. Burnham Highway
Jewett City, CT 06351
860-376-0659
heritagetrailcafe@gmail.com

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