Miranda Vineyard |

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Shortly after I heard about the New Jersey Thanksgiving Wine Trail weekend, I received an email from Haight-Brown Winery in Connecticut announcing their participation in the

1st Annual Litchfield Hills Winter Wine Trail

The winter wine trail is comprised of six participating wineries all clustered around Litchfield, Connecticut. Visit any of the wineries between December 1st and March 15th and pick up a Winter Wine Trail registration card. Get your card stamped at all six wineries by March 15th, and you’ll be eligible for the grand prize drawing of an overnight stay at a Litchfield County Bed & Breakfast with second and third prizes being a a family 4-pack of passes for Ski Sundown and dinner at a Litchfield County Restaurant.

The participating wineries include:

CT Valley Winery ~ New Hartford, CT
Jerram Winery ~ New Hartford, CT **Vino Verve Visited**
Haight-Brown Vineyard ~ Litchfield, CT **Vino Verve Visited**
Hopkins Vineyard ~ New Preston, CT **Vino Verve Visited**
Miranda Vineyard ~ Goshen, CT **Vino Verve Visited**
Sunset Meadow Vineyards ~ Goshen, CT **Vino Verve Visited**

The Litchfield Hills are lovely any time of the year and the towns scattered throughout the region often feature charming 18th and 19th century farmhouses and Queen Annes (or newer houses styled like more historic buildings), local farms and vineyards with a wide area of fresh produce and wines and picturesque town squares (particularly in the town of Litchfied). Decked out for Christmas, especially if there’s snow on the ground, the area is practically a Currier & Iv es lithograph come to life.

Combine all that with the chance to win some great prizes, and you’ve got a new Locapour Holiday Tradition.

I’ll be hitting the trail on Saturday December 5th with three of my newest wine-trail buddies, Cheryl Grayson and sisters Deb Shaw-Esteves and Melissa Shaw. It will also give me the chance to check off one more winery in my quest to complete the entire Connecticut Wine Trail. Hope to see you there!

Miranda Vineyard

Marguerite Barrett

Contributing Writer

A scant 2 1/2 miles from Sunset Meadow Vineyard you’ll find the Miranda Vineyard. Leaving Sunset Meadow head South on Route 63 for a 1/4 mile and then turn off and head down backroads to reach Miranda. The Tasting Room is a large renovated 2-story Connecticut Farmhouse, and is fronted by a modern-day version of a classic New England stone fence. The inside is open and airy, with a large bar along the right-hand side of the back wall, and tables and chairs set out on the left side, which also has doors leading out onto a large deck with additional seating for the warmer months.

Tastings at Miranda are $5 and include the glass. When I stopped by about 10 days ago, I was joined at the tasting bar by a party of three couples spending the afternoon touring local wineries and picking up wines for the holidays. The hosts were charming and chatted with us as we worked our way through the tasting. There were five wines on the tasting menu that day:

Woodridge White: This is a blend of Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc that is crisp and quite refreshing. It would be a good sipping wine on a summer evening, and would also be nice paired with chicken, fish or a light pasta. The Woodridge White is a 2008 Big E Northeast Gold Medal Award Winner.

Chardonnay: This is a fuller-bodied wine than the Woodridge White. My preference, though, was for the Woodridge White which I found a more interesting wine.

Woodridge Red: This is a nice red table wine; medium-bodied and able to stand up to heavier pasta and light meat dishes. This and the Woodridge White were my two favorites at Miranda. And like the Woodridge White, the Woodridge Red is also a 2008 Big E Northeast Gold Medal Award Winner.

Merlot: For Connecticut this is not a bad Merlot, but it doesn’t have the mellowness of the coastal or Long Island Merlots. I detected hints of licorice which were quite interesting. The tasting includes a dark chocolate truffle, and I must say the chocolate made a difference.

Rose: The tasting ended with a Rose. This is a very nice light Rose, which would be a perfect “sit on the back porch in the heat of the summer” sipping wine. I wasn’t overly impressed with this wine, but then I’m not usually a fan of Rose wines – often finding them sweeter and lighter than I normally like.

My tasting “companions” definitely preferred sweeter wines overall, and all really liked the Rose and the Chardonnay. They were less impressed with the Woodbridge Red and the Merlot, but did admit that they lean towards whites in general.

The first time I visited Miranda Vineyard was this past summer, and it was a very busy Sunday afternoon. There were about 20 people lined up at the bar for tastings, and it got a bit chaotic at times. However, that shouldn’t deter anyone from stopping – if the tasting bar is crowded when you arrive, I recommend grabbing a bottle of either the Woodbridge White or the Woodbridge Red and heading out to the patio to relax and enjoy the sunshine, the views and the wine.

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