PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE WINERIES

Southeastern Connecticut lies directly across Long Island Sound from the vineyards of Long Island’s North Fork, and northwest sits New York’s well-known Finger Lakes wine region. Both are widely recognized for their wines, leaving Connecticut’s coastal vineyards comparatively under the radar.

But it’s high time Southeastern Connecticut steps out of the shadow. While this region is one of the Northeast’s quieter wine destinations, its unique terroir, driven by mineral-rich soil, yields beautiful, bountiful grapes, and has for decades.

In the colonial era, native grapes grew abundant in Connecticut, and winemaking on small family farms wasn’t uncommon, but for numerous reasons, including ample access to imported wines and the proliferation of spirit-making during the period, colonists struggled to sustain large-scale grape growing operations here. And yet, in 1784, Connecticut adopted its offcial state seal design featuring three grapevines in the center of the shield. The vines represent the three oldest settlements, Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford. Throughout the 1800s, viticulture was taken more seriously, and vineyards could be found throughout the state, but winemaking had yet to emerge as a major industry.

It wasn’t until the Connecticut legislature passed the Farm Winery Act in 1978 that wineries began to cultivate vines and grow grapes in earnest. Haight-Brown Vineyard in Litchfield, established in 1975 by Sherman Haight, who was instrumental in the passage of the act, was the state’s oldest winery until it closed in 2023. Today, Hopkins Vineyard in Warren, established in 1979, holds the title of the oldest winery in Connecticut still in operation. And though those towns are only about 100 miles away from the Connecticut Shoreline, it’s an entirely different designated American Viticultural Area.

An AVA is a designated grape-growing region defined by a shared geography, climate, soil, and terrain. Connecticut is home to two AVAs; the Western Connecticut Highlands and Southeastern New England, the latter of which encompasses predominately coastal parts of New Haven, New London, and Middlesex counties along with parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Southeastern New England AVA was established in 1984 and historically, Chardonnay has been the flagship varietal of the region as the cool growing season produces grapes with bright, natural acidity. (Cabernet Franc leads the reds). Yet across the AVA’s nearly two dozen vineyards, you’ll find a broad range of vinifera, hybrids, and sparkling wines that capture the best of local flavor.

“We’re in our infancy really,” says Ryan McGuiness, the beverage director at James Beard Award-winning restaurant Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic, about Southeastern Connecticut wines. “A lot of them were planted in the late 90s, early 2000s, so the vine maturity is really coming of age now, and I think the wine is getting better.”

That timing tracks for Saltwater Farm Vineyard in Stonington. In the late 90s, Michael & Merrily Connery were winding down their demanding careers in New York City and would spend time on the North Fork, when the peninsula was carving out an enviable reputation as a premier East Coast wine destination. Merrily, originally from Waterford, and Michael, a Rhode Island native, had been keeping their eye on a 108-acre property along Stonington’s shoreline that served as a small private airport in the 1930s, complete with a dilapidated WWII-era plane hangar.

“They were advertising it to pilots and horse people, and nothing was happening, and one day we came up to see it and bought it,” recalls Merrily. At the time, they had no intentions of becoming winemakers. “It wasn’t until the third year of ownership that we decided to pursue the vineyard aspect, so we reached out to the people in Long Island we had become acquainted with and spent 2003 planting the first vines.”

Though different AVAs, the North Fork and Southeastern Connecticut share commonalities when it comes to winegrowing, primarily the cool coastal climes off Long Island Sound and a mirrored growing season. Thus, the Connerys turned to Steve Mudd, an early architect of North Fork viticulture who’s largely credited with putting Long Island wine on the map, to turn Saltwater Farm into a viable vineyard.

“It is all about our growing season. We have a little bit of a longer growing season, so that leads to more balanced wines that are brighter and fresher in characteristics.” — Brittany Lewitz

This year, the Connerys are marking the 25th anniversary of Saltwater Farm Vineyard’s inaugural harvest and have a robust portfolio of wines that reflect their labor. Some even include North Fork juice, like their “Runway White,” named as a nod to the farm’s aviation past, made from estate grown Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc with the addition of white wine from the North Fork.

“The soil at Saltwater is actually quite perfect,” explains Merrily. And its close proximity to the ocean moderates temperatures, allowing an extended growing season. “We’re surrounded by water, marshland, then a harbor, then the sea,” she says.

In 2018, the Connerys purchased 50 acres of farmland just 15 minutes north of Saltwater to create another vineyard, Kingdom of the Hawk, and planted vines right away. “Kingdom has been much more of a challenge with the vines; the soil has a lot more clay in it,” she concedes, but the vineyard, like Saltwater Farm, thrives as a popular wedding and event venue.

One area where Southeastern Connecticut and the North Folk differ considerably is the soil. “[Long Island’s] vineyards are very sandy; they don’t hold moisture very well. Every vineyard is basically irrigated, and the soil really impacts the quality of your grapes in a big way,” explains Jonathan Edwards of Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington. Edwards says this area’s soil is ‘glacial till,’ the result of the area’s formation during the Ice Age which ultimately created a very heavy, rich, stone-filled soil. “So, we have a rich, nutrient-dense soil packed with minerals from all the stones,” he says. “The soil density and the amount of minerals and flavors we have, which translate into flavors in the glass, are something that is unique to our area.”

The Edwards family purchased the 48-acre hilltop property that was farmed for more than two centuries in 2000, opening the winery to the public two years later. Today, it’s one of the best known wineries in the area. Edwards says they mostly grow vinifera – traditional European grapevines – to produce more than a dozen wines. “Mostly, we grow white grapes because we are a cool climate growing region, and so having these really interesting mineral impacts in white wine is something that’s really a positive,” he says.

Edwards also says the distinctive terroir of the area’s wine, that is, the soil and environment specific to Southeast Connecticut, beautifully compliments the region’s thriving culinary scene. “We have a nice growing season, and we have all this mineral essence in our wines, and they tend to go really, really well with our local cuisine and a lot of that is our local seafood.”

From a global perspective, Brittany Lewitz, a sommelier and the food and beverage director with ATY Hospitality based in Mystic, says Southeastern Connecticut wine has a lot in common with France’s Bordeaux region, including maritime climate, topography, a long growing season, and the vulnerability vines can suffer from rain and frost.

“It is all about our growing season. We have a little bit of a longer growing season, so that leads to more balanced wines that are brighter and fresher in characteristics,” she says. “We are a cooler climate, and the grape will ripen a little slower. Around here, big grape varieties – Chardonnay obviously, Riesling, or Cab Franc – those can withhold that climate as opposed to California, a warmer climate where you get those riper, luscious, juicier wines with more sugar, lower acid, higher alcohol. Here, Chardonnay is higher acid, less alcohol, but they are lean and juicy.”

Lewitz says one of her favorite local wines is Stonington Vineyards’s Seaport White. “It’s phenomenal. Phenomenal. Probably one of the best wines they produce,” she says.

Today, more than half a dozen vineyards now dot southeastern Connecticut within the Southeastern New England AVA. Adding to their ranks is the anticipated debut of Greystone Winery, set to open later this year.