Joseph Preli Farm and Vineyard

I saw a review pop up in my feed the other day from Tobias M. for Joseph Preli Farm and Vineyard and it immediately struck a chord with me. 1) Local 2) Vineyard 3) Ciders 4) LOCAL… I’m sold! I checked out their website and it indicated that Sunday hours were 12 — 5 pm. We went out to Manchester to do some errands and came back via Glastonbury to check out the farm. We were a little thrown off at first, as you drive into a driveway that just looks like a personal driveway. I didn’t see any signs of life and started to get nervous that we were in fact just trespassing at someone’s house. I told my husband we should leave, but then luckily a woman emerged from the house and told us we were in the right place!
They just got their winery permits a couple of weeks ago and don’t have a formal tasting room yet. That didn’t matter to us, as we were just fine enjoying our tasting on a bench on the porch overlooking part of their farm. The tastings cost $ 10/​each, include the glass, and were very generous pours. John and Jeanne were very friendly and educated us on what they were pouring and the history of their family making these wines and ciders for many years. We were able to sample the apple/​pineapple/​orange cider, the spiced cider, and the blueberry wine, all of which were bottled with labels. John also let us sample concord grape wine and concord grape cider, which had not yet been bottled. I loved them all! I am certain that has never happened at a CT winery before. But I love cider, especially the alcoholic variety, and his fruit wines were not cloyingly sweet, as they tend to be at other CT vineyards. They have a family history of making these wines and ciders, and it shows in the finished product. We ended up purchasing one of each of the available bottled wines, and John was gracious enough to bottle us one of the concord grape. The price for the 4 bottles was extremely reasonable.
John and Jeanne were so hospitable, they also gave us an education on the winter squash they had available. We ended up taking home a spaghetti squash and a carnival squash, which they actually threw in for no charge with our purchase of wine/​cider. I never had carnival squash, but got it on Jeanne’s recommendation, and followed her advice to stuff it with a sausage stuffing. We had it for dinner that night and it was fabulous! She also sent me home with a recipe for butternut squash soup.
It didn’t end there. We messed up and did not refrigerate our blueberry wine (even though they told us to!) and it ended up popping the cork the next morning. They gave us a replacement bottle without any hassle. Actually, they offered to give us the new bottle AND let us keep the old bottle (which we did not accept, as we thought that was too much), but they also gave us a free jar of their homemade hot sauce for our trouble.
I don’t think I have ever gone to a business with owners this nice. You truly feel like part of the family for the time that you’re there. I hope that everyone who reads this review will patronize this farm for whatever you may be interested in. Their crops run from Spring through Fall and they offer a variety of fruits and vegetables. You can find a full list on their website. They said that they will let you do pick your own for just about anything they offer, all you have to do is ask.
If you’re planning to visit the vineyard during the winter, just call ahead as they’re not going to have regular hours for tastings, but they’re happy to help you if they know you’re coming. Jeanne said they’ll keep regular hours in the spring, when they’re likely to have more visitors. I can’t wait to go back!

This place is fantastic if you love the local winery scene with a very personal touch. The owners are awesome people and the wines and ciders are wonderful!

We were at Preli farms today picking blueberries. What a wonderful farm — the owners, John and Jeanne were very welcoming. The offerings there are varied. Lots of berries, veggies, and different fruits depending on the season. We will be back in late summer for the grapes. A small family farm that is well worth the trip.

Great produce farm! I love John! :o)
John grows heirloom and unusual varieties of fruit and veggies. I love his raspberries, both red and black. The red ones get as big as a quarter! Black raspberries take a little more to wrangle off the vine, but their flavor is so deep it’s almost like good red wine.
Last year was not a great year for peaches, because of all of the rain. While John’s weren’t picture perfect (I did buy the seconds though) they were huge and flavorful. Other farms I purchased peaches from had pits that split, they were small and never quite got ripe.
I’ve also bought green beans, concord grapes, brocolli, plum tomatoes and lettuce. All delicious. The brocolli was much stronger than the variety usually seen in the grocery store, so that was a bit of an adjustment. I’ve not tried his blueberries, flowers (though they looked nice), peppers or tomatillos.
John will let you pick your own or if you call ahead, he’ll harvest for you in whatever amount you specify. By now, he’s used to my ordering 20 lbs of tomatoes at a shot but I think most people ask for much smaller amounts. My home canning and freezing would be very limited if it weren’t for John, Dondero Orchards and Carini Berry Farm.
John also supplies produce to the local Whole Foods Market. John does have a full time job outside of the farm, but in the growing season you can usually get a hold of him easily in the late afternoon or on weekends. Please, please, please patronize him!