As I walked through the large wooden doors, I knew instantly that the Haight Vineyard was built on pride and founded on the idea that hard work and attention to detail are the basis for creating greatness. As the first established vineyard in the state of Connecticut , Haight Vineyard has set a lofty standard to which other vineyards in the state must compare themselves.

Sherman Haight Jr. is a man who is not afraid to choose his own path in life. In 1975, frustrated by his previous farming efforts, he decided to transform his 35 acres of land in the rolling hills of Litchfield , Connecticut into a reputable vineyard. No wineries existed in the state at that time, and there were no guides or books for him to turn to for help.

Haight knew that the best winemaker in the world can’t improve on what he starts with. All he can do is keep it from deteriorating, and that takes a lot of skill. There are thousands of grape varieties, but only a few are palatable for wine and still fewer would tolerate the harshness of Connecticut ’s climate. If you start with the wrong grape, you’ve lost it all before you even begin.

After studying the grape culture in the colder parts of Eastern‑Europe, Haight decided to plant Chardonnay and Riesling from the famous Vitis Vinifera family of grapes for his crop. The stress from the New England winter battered the crops, and only a small sample of wine was produced that first year, but it was wine of exceptional quality. Fueled by this success, Haight Vineyards was established.

Twenty years later, the vineyard continues to produce exceptional wines that rival those coming from California , New York , and around the world. Haight continues to plant his original grapes, but has also added Merlot, Seyval Blanc, Vignoles, and others over time.

In 1983, Haight decided to challenge his own successes by producing another first for the state, a sparkling wine created by the “methode champenoise”. Together with his chief winemaker Shorn Mills, Haight wanted to create a wine by the traditional method used in Reims and Epernay in France, which has created the worlds finest Champagne for over three hundred years.

The “method champenoise” that Haight and Mills use starts by fermenting Cuveé, a blend of the finest estate grapes, in stainless steel tanks at 55ºF. A secondary fermentation takes place later in the bottle. The wine is racked by tipping it so the neck angles down, and hand riddled, rotated exactly a quarter turn per day. This allows the sediment, dead yeast, and other particles in the wine to settle in the neck of the bottle. The neck is then frozen and the plug of sediment is removed by hand. Sugar can be added at this point to continue the fermentation process and provide additional carbonation, but Haight prefers to use only the natural method and does not add any sweeteners to his wine. The bottle is then corked and labeled.

For Shorn Mills, his favorite part of the operation is staring at the finished product, capped and labeled. Haight Vineyards produces an estimated 900 cases of sparkling wine labeled as Blanc de Blancs a year, which are eagerly anticipated and consumed by a growing group of wine enthusiasts.

Word of mouth, and a reputation for producing fine products has enabled Haight to expand his operation into the Tudor building it occupies now. The ground floor is dedicated to the production of wine, and includes wine cellars, aging rooms and access to an outside pressing deck. The second floor provides a tasting room, a cozy fireplace, and deck to look out over the vineyards. Tours of the facility are offered daily, and a complimentary wine tasting completes the experience.

The year 1984 introduced another first year production for Haight Vineyards. The Artist’s Series Chardonnay called Neauearth was released, emblazoned with a label that depicted a bird’s eye view of a futuristic landscape.

Neauearth, which was made from grapes picked at the lowest and warmest part of the vineyard, would win a gold medal in the New England Wine Competition that first year. Haight knew those small berries had more flavor and sugar than other berries in his crop. The wine would be fermented in French Oak barrels of Limousin , Nevers and Alliers.

Sherman Haight explained that the advantages Haight Vineyards has over some of his larger competitors is that he does not rush the natural processes of wine making. Chemical additives are not added or necessary to stabilize the wine to keep on tight processing schedules. Haight wines contain only the essence of the vine, water, and minerals drawn from the ground, as nature intended it to be.

The wine making process for the several white and red wines produced at Haight Vineyards is very similar to those used throughout the wine producing countries of the world, but with an attention to detail that only a small vineyard can deliver.

White wines are made by picking the ripest grapes from the vines by hand. Haight is troubled by the idea that one day he may have to use mechanical pickers to harvest his grapes. Mechanical pickers are indiscriminate and grape vines don’t ripen evenly. Even when 85 percent of the vine is ripe, that still leaves 15% of unripened berries that will go into the wine. Haight prefers to have multiple hand pickings, thereby assuring that only the finest grapes go into his product.

Once the grapes are picked, they are brought to the outside press deck and weighed. A stainless steel crusher/stemmer removes the stems from the grapes, crushes them, and then pumps the skins and juice into a five ton press.

Approximately 165 gallons of juice will be extracted from five tons of crushed grapes. The juice is chilled in stainless steel tanks to a temperature of 55ºF and left to sit for 72 hours to let the non-soluble solids precipitate out. The juice is then “racked” (pumped) into a clean tank, and the sediment is disposed.

A special wine yeast is then added to the juice to begin fermentation, which is the conversion of natural grape sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide in about equal parts. The carbon dioxide gas is allowed to escape through a series of air locks.

When the fermentation process is complete, all of the sugars will have been transformed by the yeast. The dead yeast cells will be suspended in the wine giving it a cloudy appearance. A mixture of food grade clay dug in Wyoming is added to the wine to create a slurry that will purify the wine as the mixture settles to the bottom of the tank.

The white wine is then racked into French Oak barrels to begin aging and the “lees” (sediment) is disposed. The wine is aged for 2-4 months to extract the flavors and aromas from the Oak.

After aging, the wine is racked into stainless steel tanks and filtered to remove proteins which can cause clouding. The wine is aged further and then heads to the bottling line where it will go through a final filtering at .45 microns to achieve a sterile product. The bottle is then corked, labeled, inventoried, aged and finally released.

The process for red wine making is almost identical, except that the crushed grapes, juice, and yeast are put into an open top fermentor for 7 days to begin fermenting, before they go to the press. This allows the natural pigments in the skin of the grapes to color the clear wine.

Red wines are aged in American Oak barrels for about 3 times longer than the white wines. They are also aged in inventory for a longer time before releasing.

Haight Vineyard begins harvesting its grapes around September 12. The picking continues for approximately one month. The grapes ferment for about three weeks, and the aging process finishes about March. The wines are bottled March through June. The white wines are released first, followed by the red wines coming out around October.

Haight Vineyards has won numerous accolades for its wines. The Haight Riesling won the Best of Class and the gold medal at the Wineries Unlimited competition. The Marechal Foch took a silver medal, and the Haight Chardonnay won the bronze. Sherman Haight’s daughter, Katie, helps run the vineyard when Sherman is busy travelling. The vineyard produces about 6000 cases of wine annually, of which 15% is sparkling wine.

In 1990, a second winery was opened near Mystic, CT to take advantage of the climatic influences of the Sound. The winery was designated as a Wine Education Center and has as its goal “to teach everyone who passes through its doors the truth about wine in the history of our nation and the world”.

With the dedication and love Sherman Haight has put into his product, it is no wonder his wines are held in such high esteem. And of course you can’t forget what Sherman knew from the very beginning, “it all starts with a quality grape”.

As I was leaving the vineyard, Sherman Haight said one last thing that showed his humility and respect for the wine making tradition “If you start with the finest grape vines, and Mother Nature blesses you with good soil and weather, the only thing the winemaker can do is screw up the process!”