What could be more fun than to have all of your favorite wineries in one place offering wine tasting all for one price? Not much! My husband and I love festivals so we thought we would venture out to The Connecticut Wine Festival in Goshen, CT. We invited our favorite wine trail companions and headed out for a fun filled day. We brought our Wine Trail Passports as the festival has their own page to be stamped.  The other wineries in the book will not stamp your book while there. You have to go to their wineries for those stamps. That’s fine with us!

Complimentary Connecticut Wine Festival Glass

First, let me start by saying that the cost is $25 per person, but if you buy your tickets in advance you will save $5 on each ticket. We bought ours at Adams Supermarket, but you could also buy them online. This price includes wine tasting from the 14 different wineries in attendance. There is also a special reduced price for designated drivers.

We arrived at the fairgrounds around 1:00. There were two lines, one to purchase tickets and one for ticket holders. The second line is where they check your ID; give you a bracelet, your wine glass and a tote bag. Each winery brought 4 wines to try and the tasting was divided into 2 buildings. These buildings were very hot and crowded. At some of the winery tables the wait was 3-4 deep. I will say that it was a very festive atmosphere despite the crowds and heat. Everyone seemed to be having a good time (including us)…my guess it was the wine. The biggest bargain of them all was wine at $5 per glass. After a while we all decided it was the way to go.

The food at the festival was good and very fairly priced. They had the basics as well as pulled chicken and pork sandwiches and a grilled cheese truck…but the best thing I saw was skewered shrimp (5 nice sized grilled shrimp for $4). Inside the buildings were also samples of locally grown products and local food businesses with tastings.

Aside from the food and drink there were tables set outside up with jewelry, maple syrup, honey, awesome donuts from Faddy’s, and other Connecticut items and of course you could buy your favorite bottle(s) of wine to take home.

While having lunch, I decided to ask some others how they felt about the event. The overall consensus was that it probably would have been better if it was cooler (in the spring or fall). Generally people were having a good time.

Thinking back on the whole day, I’m glad we went. We had fun, tasted wine and had lunch. I’m not sure I would go again. If you have a large group, you can pick a winery, bring food buy a bottle or two of wine and spend the day. For what it cost us for 5 people, we feel that we like to go the wineries and enjoy each one for their uniqueness as well as their wines.