It is definitely a family operation. Ralph talked excitably about his son’s plans to start growing more grapes and including some more traditional wines in the future. He showed Mike and me around the fermentation room, encouraging other visitors to take a look as well, mentioning that they had no secrets - everything is done by hand. We got quite a tour and a definite education on the wine making process before we stared the tasting. The final product was crystal clear and made for a very enjoyable and drinkable table wine. I got a close up view of it as he invited Mike and me in to see view the product in its various stages of fermentation. They make mostly fruit wines, and have the only rhubarb wine I’ve encountered so far on the trail. The winery has evolved a lot since its inception but it is still a fairly simple “three man operation” as he describes it. The farm started out as a pick-your-own type, but that proved to be less economical ,and he was about to pack it all in 12 years ago when he got a call from Cornell University about a program working with small scale fruit farmers to set up wineries. He used to work as an engineer, and bought the farm in 1985 after retiring from a community college teaching position. Ralph was a unique character himself, and loaded with information about the winery and its history. At White Silo I met with Ralph, the current owner of the winery/farm. In my experience it’s always interesting when the topic is one that the person is passionate about.
One of the things I am really enjoying about this whole process is the people that I get to meet and talk with. This one definitely fills the unique bill. This meant I got in a lot of good face to face interview time and probably more of a tour than I would have on a normal weekend.įirst on the list: White Silo - it was definitely a long trek from Branford, but I am so glad that I made it. That weekend happened to be the same day as the Goshen wine fest, and I lucked out because all of the tasting rooms were less busy, and each still had someone very informative and knowledgeable about their products available to talk with me without the usual crazy distractions of a normal weekend on the wine trail as most of the regular wine trail tourists were over at the festival. I visited three wineries in one day, which was a bit ambitious, but I had mike along to keep me in line. But for me it’s really more of planning an enjoyable day trip and getting to take in some tastes and scenery. I know some people just want to do a tasting, get their passport stamped and move on to the next one. One of the things I really set out to accomplish with these reviews is to give my readers an idea of the personal feel of the wineries and what to expect if you want to plan a day trip and get a chance to soak in everything each place has to offer. I’ve discovered through my visits to wineries on the wine trail that each one is unique and it’s usually hard to tell through their websites what the experience will be like.
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