We got ready around noon and headed to a local farm that had opened a winery a few years ago and had been rated the best winery in Connecticut for 2010, Jones Winery (and farm). This was one of the few “traditional farms” I’ve been to that actually had embraced technology and cool design as well as keeping their traditions and country feel, they had a Foursquare sticker in their window and some cool looking designs for their various farms (strawberry, blueberry, pumpkin, and Christmas tree). They had two wine tasting options, a dry and off-dry, I opted for the off dry (all whites and fruit wines), whereas Jeremy and his mom opted for the dry tasting (had three red wines in place of the fruit wines). All of the wines were pretty good, some were a bit simple in their body and flavor but overall they were quite tasty, and we ended up buying a sparking strawberry wine to bring with us to dinner at Bob and Meredith’s (Eileen’s brother and his wife) for dinner.

We arrived to a great appetizer spread of Brie and Gouda cheese with crackers, home-smoked salmon and sausage, fresh bacon guacamole and fresh green chile salsa with tortilla chips (Meredith is quite the accomplished cook). We enjoyed wine on their deck overlooking the creek (the weather was fantastic, mid-70s, a breeze and shady) chatting together on a range of topics until it was time for dinner…salad with a lime, honey vinaigrette, grilled porterhouse steak, bean and rice salad, fresh bakery rolls (from a cute local bakery), and roasted asparagus. For dessert, lemon sorbet with fresh berries, light refreshing, and you can never go wrong with raspberries.

After enjoying lots of wine at Bob and Meredith’s we’re opting to have a chill evening tonight at Jeremy’s mom’s place, and probably relatively early bed before heading into “the city” (aka New York City) tomorrow.

Photos: Jones Winery Flickr Set