Maureen Macdonald is the head winemaker at Hawk Ridge Winery in Watertown. She sees the quality of local wines improving every year – ready to take a place on retailer shelves and restaurant wine lists as a local farm-to-table product equal to any.
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There she’s responsible for a portfolio of 35 wines and is developing a new series of pet-nat style sparkling wines. In her 17 years in the wine business, Maureen Macdonald has worked her way up from planting vines to assistant winemaker, consulting winemaker and now head winemaker at Hawk Ridge Winery in Watertown. Fourteen wines are available for tasting and purchase at the winery. Her eclectic and original wines include Soul Shine, a sauvignon blanc aged in agave casks Evolution, a dry muscat canelli made from the oldest known wine grape and the Rhône style San Joaquin Cuvée, a blend of grenache, syrah and carignan. Ranging in price from $29 to $45, the wines are only available at the winery. Lisa Nichols for Hearst CT Media/Lisa Nichols/Hearst CT MediaĪquila’s Nest produces nine wines from a mix of estate and purchased grapes. The views are as much a draw as the wines at Aquila’s Nest. She’s also in touch with an informal network of other Connecticut women in wine sharing ideas and supporting each other.Īquila’s Nest wines are named after legendary women – figures from ancient mythology and legend that characterize the spirit of what’s in the bottle – Sibyl dry rosé, Zana e Malit dry riesling, Siren moscato and Princess of Troy merlot for example. Over 80 women are in her network of crafters, suppliers, musicians and artists who perform, display or hold events at the tasting room. Since then, she’s made it her mission to build Aquila on a strong female foundation. When Zhgaba got into wine, she didn’t find many young women in the business. Now that the vines are mature, he makes the wine and she makes the magic – handling the marketing, guest experience and winery events. Looking for a lifestyle close to the land, they planted vines on their hilltop site in Sandy Hook seven years ago. She and her husband Ardian Liomi, both trained as engineers, opened the winery during the pandemic. Frank Whitman for Hearst Connecticut Media The tasting room displays at Aquila’s Nest Vineyards are all about women: in art, in history, and in wine. The displays are all about women: in art, in history and of course in wine. Every corner showcased the winery's commitment to the influence of women. Owner Neviana Zhgaba walked us through the winery with its gleaming stainless steel tanks to the spacious tasting room. On the first stop on our quest, rows of vines peeked over the ridge on the curving, uphill lane to Aquilla’s Nest Vineyards, just like wineries around the world. Marsha and I set out to discover women leading local wineries and meet as many of them as we could. JoAnn LoGiurato pouring wine at the International Women's Day wine tasting at Stew Leonard’s Wines in Norwalk. It got me thinking about the role of women at Connecticut wineries. Scheduled for International Women's Day at Stew Leonard’s Wines in Norwalk earlier this month, the event included wineries from the U.S., New Zealand and Italy. The invitation from JoAnn LoGiurato announced a wine tasting to celebrate women in wine.
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