DiGrazia Winery
Brookfield Connecticut

Summer is a great time to tour wineries! I agreed to meet my mom and stepfather in western Connecticut recently to tour two wineries. DiGrazia was the second of the two, so we reached it late in the afternoon. The winery is nestled in the rolling Connecticut hills, making for a beautiful drive from just about anywhere. The winery itself has a wood, comfortable tasting room, with staff that quickly put you at your ease.

We first spent some time talking with the owner, Dr. DiGrazia. Dr. DiGrazia is a medical doctor and has been focusing recently on the problems of the elderly, especially post-menopausal women. He has found that the antioxidants naturally found in wine are a great help to maintaining health. He is even considering making a blueberry wine solely because the blueberries have a very high level of antioxidants in them.

He also told us about a new wine of DiGrazia's - Saba. This generations-old recipe was given to him by an Etheopian family. It is created with fermented hops - quite an unusual raw ingredient for a wine.

The wines are created with grapes grown on 50 acres near the New York line, by Sharon. Another 7 acres are being worked on locally. The wines are done without sulfites, and in fact Dr. DiGrazia takes great care in all of his winemaking to make the wines as healthy as he can, using processes that are as natural as possible. He brought me back during the tasting to show how the bottling system was being sterilized - three different rounds of filtered hot water are used to clear out the system. This does the job far better than the haphazard chemical applications that many wineries use.

On to the tasting. We began with the Winner's Cup ($13.99), created from Seyval Blanc. This had a nutty, light and sparkly flavor to it. It's aged in American oak and goes through malolactic fermentation. This would be great with a cheese and fruit platter. They offer two other whites, two blushes, and a pear we did not try.

The only red offered by DiGrazia is their Fieldstone Reserve ($12.99), which is a blend of Marechal Foch and Leon Millot. This was rich and earthy tasting, with a good finish. This would be great with a red pasta dish.

The next wine we tried was the unique Saba ($13.99). Sure enough, it began as a wine-type flavor, but finished almost as a beer, with a touch of sweetness. Definitely a good wine to try on your beer-drinking friends!

We skipped the spiced wines, and tried the Yankee Frost ice wine ($21.99). Unlike some wineries in the region, DiGrazia actually does the ice wine in the traditional manner - picking the grapes when they have frozen on the vine. This was lightly sweet, but had a dry aspect to it as well.

The dessert wines are what DiGrazia is properly famous for. The Berrywood ($16.99) is a raspberry wine, made with orange blossom honey and a citrus brandy. It has a light, berry flavor, not too sweet. This would be great with a berry tart. The Winterberry ($16.99) is made with the same base wine as the Berrywood, plus black currants. It is more complex in flavor, with a richer body to it.

Evangelico ($21.99) is a blend of pear, black walnut, and aged grape brandy. This indeed tasted richly of pears and nuts, with a smooth, soft feel. Definitely a great wine for sipping on any evening. The Terra Virgo ($21.99) is a blend of white grapes, orange spirits, and aged brandy. Another perfect evening sipper, this was very smooth and tasty.

DiGrazia offers two port style wines. The 1998 White Magnolia is a blend of vidal plus a little seyval, agedin oak. It had apricot flavors and a delicious finish. The 1998 Blacksmith is a blend of Marechal foch and Leon millot grapes, aged in wood. This is a medium bodied port, with a light, spicy flavor to it.

Finally, we got a sneak preview of the blueberry wine that Dr. DiGrazia is working on, fresh from the barrel. This had a very intersting, complex flavor, and was quite smooth. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for when this is bottled!

In all, DiGrazia has quite a selection of delicious wines, and is easy to get to from Route 91 in southeastern Connecticut. If you're travelling in this area to see foliage, or happen to pass through this region, be sure to stop by and see what they have to offer!

Photos - June 1998
Photos - August 2000

Visited in August 2000