Winery Profile: Gouveia Vineyards

Gouveia Vineyards is located at the top of an expansive hill in Wallingford, CT, which just happens to be my home town. I have since moved from Wallingford, but it’s always nice to stop by Gouveia when I’m in town, presumably visiting my parents and/or friends on a weekend afternoon.
That’s exactly where we spent the latter part of the day on Saturday. It was such a nice day out, pushing 60 and after lounging on the deck for a few hours we thought we might as well head up to enjoy some sips of locally crafted wine.
The crowd was sparse at 330pm when we arrived, about 40 people, but when we were leaving at 630pm seats were becoming a commodity. Live music rang through the winery, which was a nice accent to the afternoon as was the complimentary cheese and cracker station to pair with our wines. The view is breathtaking, even if it only stretches across the central part of New Haven County, CT. I haven’t been in the summertime yet, but I hear it’s a great place for picnics!
Interestingly enough, you’ll be hard pressed to find a lot of main stream grapes on the menu which, for me, adds to the winery’s charm. We opted to taste a bottle of the Stone House White, a blend of Seyval Blanc, Vignoles and good ol’ Chardonnay, and a bottle of the Cabernet Franc. At $15-$20 a bottle, one might think these wines are overpriced, but we justify this fact as that we’re paying for the atmosphere and experience too. Wine tastings of five wines are available for $5.00, which includes a complimentary glass, but as we had recently visited the vineyard last month, we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity.
I’m not a big fan of semi-sweet wines, especially those meant for casual sipping, but the Stone House White really hit the spot on such a sunny afternoon. Semi sweet stone fruits and accents of honey and floral really paired nicely! Our second bottle, the Cabernet Franc was dry but delicately fruity and really seemed to help clear the palate of the previous wine’s sweetness. Structured tannins and balancing acidity, slightly jammy characteristic of red fruit- overall this was my favorite.
In general, this experience is a perfect example of how I like to spend my Sunday afternoons: good friends, good wine and beautiful weather.