Litchfield County, CT. Wine Trail
Explore wineries throughout Litchfield County.
☆ Hopkins Vineyard ☆
The Vineyard
Hopkins Vineyard is a National Bicentennial farm owned and run by the Hopkins Family for over 235 years. It has a long tradition of family and hospitality. When you come to Hopkins, you are welcomed as part of that long tradition. Friendliness, hospitality, and fun guides our staff every day.
Our Climate
Our estate vineyards sit at 817 ft. along the north shore of Lake Waramaug in the picturesque Litchfield Hills. Their relatively high elevation and southwest exposure ensures abundant sunshine which promotes a slow, even ripening, steady sugar accumulation and natural acidity. Hopkins Vineyard has the only vineyard in Connecticut influenced by an in-land lake. Lake Waramaug is the second largest natural lake in Connecticut. It provides a tempering factor in our vineyards by warding off an early frost or freeze.
Winemakers Corner
My philosophy is – what happens in the vineyard is what you get. When making wine, I like for the fruit to show itself. So, the challenge is in the vineyard. There’s certainly lots of things you can do to the juice and to the wine itself to change it, but then you’re making it something other than what it is. So, most of the important stuff happens in the vineyard. We have 20,000 plants, and each is an individual and needs to be treated as such. If you treat your plants nicely, they’ll return the favor.
☆ Hawk Ridge Winery ☆
The Batchers
Hawk Ridge Winery, part of Hidden Breeze Farm, is located in Watertown, Connecticut, a peaceful farm setting, in which to enjoy friends, family, and fantastic wine. Hidden Breeze Farm has been in existence since January, 2012. We decided to name our winery after the abundance of red tail hawks on the property.
The 58 acres that surround Hawk Ridge Winery were purchased by Hidden Breeze Farm LLC in 2012. For decades the property was a working farm. In 1975, the property began operating primarily as a horse farm, haying its pastoral acreage. In 2013, after a year of deliberation and appreciation of the property, we decided to convert the property back to a working farm with the introduction of farm animals.
Thirty acres of hay are harvested by the farm annually. In 2014, the decision was made to diversify our crops by planting grapevines with the assistance of many volunteers and college students who worked tirelessly to get the vines into the ground. In 2015, additional grape vines were planted by these same volunteers. There are currently 4 acres of grapevines planted on the farm. Five beehives were added to the property in 2014, and squash and garlic grown in 2015. Future project plans include expansion of the vineyard to 30 acres of vines, expansion of honey production, and other farm related products. Hops are also projected to be cultivated.