Reviews of Haight-Brown Vineyard (Winery)

Kendall Knapik

Owners daughter was really great, friendly, and knowledgeable about wine. The wine tasting menu had a nice variety and the farmers cheese platter was delicious.

Tami Harvey

The second time I have been treated poorly at this winery. I will not be back. The wine and service used to be good. Now staff is rude and wine has gone down hill. There are so many other wineries that deserve your patronage!

Richard Goyette

The Winter fest is a great time. This vineyard also has great wine to taste and buy but during the winter fest it is combined with good food and people that are sociable and fun. If you have the time it is definitely one of the best vineyards that I have ever been to. And I have been to over 50!!

Joseph Beckert

Great wine, cheese and chocolate pairing. Great service!

Sarah Martino

Went for a tasting, girl was a total snot. Wine was mediocre. Not my favorite

John Patafio

Poor wine , service was weak

Brian Bascom

I purchased a Groupon for a Wine Pairing Class, followed all the instructions and signed up exactly how i was instructed from the Groupon. Went to Haight Browns Website, under the CLASSES page, i found a wine tasting to sign up for. Successfully was able to sign up using my groupon number which was ACCEPTED by their website and i received my confirmation and tickets to the event in an email. Me along with 3 other family members had to take time off from work, drive over an hour to get there and then showed up with the confirmation and tickets and were denied entry to the event. They claimed that the tasting we signed up for was not a "class" that we could use the groupme for (NO WHERE online or on the group me did it say there were any restrictions, and their web page accepted and processed the groupon when i signed up for the class under their CLASSES tab on their website!) I was very disappointed and asked to speak with the owners about the situation and were in turn treated incredibly disrespectfully! The owners Amy Senew and her husband would not even let us speak and explain what happened and said "No I'm going to talk I don't care what you have to say" when we politely were trying to explain and continued to insult and be disrespectful to us. Stay away from this vineyard i now have to fight over a refund and am trying to have this business taken down from the Groupon website for promoting Haight Brown as it is false advertising and we did not get the service that i spent $65 on! I am severely disappointed with groupon and Haight Brown for the experience we just went through and am sorry that Haight Brown is giving groupon a terrible reputation the way they treat their customers and do not honor their own tickets. To make matters worse the owner lied and said they emailed everyone who purchased the class ticket through groupon saying that the one specific class we signed up for "Was not considered a class", once again despite the fact that they processed and accepted my groupon and had it listed with all the other Classes on their website under the CLASSES TAB. I did not get any such email from them, and when i asked the owner for proof and to show me the email, they could not present it and when she did a search of her inbox for any and all emails sent to my email address the only one that came up was the confirmation email and tickets that were sent for the class. This business and owners are full of scammers and swindlers and I strongly advise to avoid this horrific customer service and vineyard at all costs!

Chris and Jen Thatcher

This place is NOT dog friendly as the website says. They only allow dogs outside and there are no tastings out side. The staff is very rude about this. They are also not kid friendly. 8 of us drove 45 minutes to go because it said dog friendly. We would have gladly left the dogs home had we known. Will not go back.

DEE V

We did the 2 hour wine class on 2/16/19. We paired the wine with chocolates Amy led the class and she was so knowledgeable and interesting! I had a great time and will definitely be back for another event.

Sara Doble

Such a great wine tasting! Our server, Jessica, was so informative and fun- she made sure that we had an absolutely fabulous time!

Evelyn Rogers

My spouse and I came here and it was quite busy, so we waited some time, looking around in the shop at some of the products they sold, waiting for people to finish their tastings and move away from the bar area or at least to be acknowledged by the staff. This never happened, we were there for about a half hour before we decided to leave. Will probably not go back after reading some of the reviews and seeing this was not a rare incident.

Kevin Rhodes

Amy, I can not thank you enough for making yesterday possible! Deanna was positively perfect in her role as our tour guide through 11 wines paired with artisan cheeses and chocolates. The musician, a regular at HBV, was versatile, highly talented, and added to the atmosphere wonderfully. Each of us felt as though we had experienced an above-and-beyond gourmet treat for our palates as well as a reprieve from our cares. We genuinely appreciate what you made possible yesterday and look forward to visiting HBV again soon!! Sincerely, Tina

Andrea McIntyre

I went to this winery yesterday with a group of 6 people. The wines were really good, the atmosphere however, was terrible!!! There was a woman playing a guitar and singing in the tasting room. The 6 of us agreed that she had a good voice and played well, the huge down side was that she had an amp and speaker INSIDE the building. She was so loud that I could barely hear the server as he was trying to describe the wine I was tasting and couldn't talk with the people I came with because we couldn't hear eachother. If I wanted that type of experience I would have gone to a bar or club. The server tried to make the best of it either talking loudly or trying to rush to explain the wines between songs, but it was not an enjoyable experience!! When our server asked if we wanted to try the wine slushies we were all too anxious to get away from the blaring music to even consider staying to try more. I wouldn't recommend going to this winery when there is live music, they care more about that than the customer experience!

Greg Ogrodnik

The apple and strawberry wines were our favorite! And with the cheese pairing?

Rnjess92

The wine was ok, the service on Friday 8/4/17 not so good. I think it may have been the owner that was running around stocking and emptying boxes etc. The bar was full and there was one girl doing tastings. We were there over an hour and a half for I think seven wines. She poured them, said what they were and then walked away. She was new and she apologized for that but the owner or whoever the other person was, was on her phone and very much a busybody. Why didn't she noticed the full bar and people sitting around waiting for a tasting. The tastings for $12 and $15 each so you were paying a good price to be served. The winery itself seem to bit run down and there was way too much going on. I need to concentrate on their gas and the wine. Not impressed. We did purchase a bottle of Cabernet, as I feel I'm trying to keep local businesses in business but I would not recommend this place. So many other wineries in the area with much better service and atmosphere.

Eugene Klimaszewski

Condescending customer service stems from the top down. You would think this is an establishment of substance being in litchfield, not the case. Young wines, bad service. Avoid. Try sunset meadow vineyard or better yet chamard down in Clinton if you are ever down there.

Jessica Houlker

The oldest winery in the state. The property is beautiful, but you cannot bring any outside food or beverage. Very little choice for snacks so eat before arrival. The wine is mostly French/California style so if that's your thing you will love it. We did a full tasting. They also offer cheese and chocolate tasting but do not pair them with the wines.

Rosemary Reder

This winery was good years ago. Not sure what happened. Poor service, bad wine. I bought a mixed case of wine and when I opened the bottles 3/4 of them were bad, fizzy. I made a special trip back from out of town to exchange them and got an attitude from the employee. The wine they replaced it with was also bad. So I emailed them and got no response.

Eric Krause

Red wines are very good, also nice cheeses!

Della Freedman

The staff made me and my family very comfortable. We did a tasting. Server very knowledgeable. Introduced us to new types of wines and cheese. Great selection.

Diane Rusanowsky

Service was great, but the wines were not up to their usual standard. A shame, HB is usually among our favorite stops on the CT Wine Trail.

Randy Voytas

Had a great time with friends at HBV. We went and bought a case of wine and ended up staying there and drinking one of the bottles. The atmosphere in the rooms is very pleasant. Can't wait to go back again and visit the vineyard.

Abel Rivera

Sandy was EXCELLENT! Great service.

Eryn Brewer

Overall enjoyable experience and very tastey wines

Erica Kane

Poor service, under-educated staff, young wines. $12 for a tasting of all 10 wines or $9 for your choice of 6. Only 3 of the wines use there own grapes, the rest are out of state grapes and everything was really young and/or on the vinegary side of things. Some fruit-blend drinks that the staff didn't seem to know how are made. One wine we were told "doesn't really pair with anything, it's too sweet" The correct pairing woulrf include anything grilled. Overall, not worth the price of the tasting.

Jennie B

My first wine tasting and it was awesome! Sean the bartender was great! . Definitely Wanna go back!

John Marganski

Nice establishment and wine selection

Ruben Mojica

Not good wines in general, poor ambience, and service was mediocre!

Ashley Coffey

Awesome I’ll Beyonce fantastic service Deanna, the manager Amy, and Samantha are great!!!! I HIGHLY recommend this place for everybody it’s so much fun!!!! I especially love the fact that you can do cheese and chocolate parents with their wine it’s incredible!!!!

Rion Lindsay

Good wines and great staff. The building is nice as well

Alex Hjalmarsson

Nice classic tasting room in a restored barn. Beautiful views of the grape fields and tasty wine! Live music during out visit as well. 4 stars only because our glasses were dusty and that’s important in my book!

Marcia Raymond

beautiful place, nice owners and good wine☺

DONNA DAIGLE

I had a private party at the vineyard and it was perfect!! Amy and her staff made it a night of wonderful memories to last a lifetime. Thank you for all the help and guidance, the Wine and Food could not have been better

Donna Ploss

I hadn’t been to Haight for over 30 years. Thought I’d try it and bought a Groupon. My bestie and I drove there yesterday. Disappointed in the ambience. There was a bridal shower going on. There was no one to great us when we walked in. Had to find the wine tasting room ourselves. The place was empty. Wine samples were good. HOWEVER...3 out of the wines we sampled were unavailable for sale. The cheese sampling was minuscule and no crackers. We brought our own cheese and crackers but were not allowed to consume them in the building or out on the shaded patio. We were told there was a picnic area where we could bring our own food. Their “picnic area” was nothing more than picnic tables in the blazing hot sun. No shade anywhere. We bought a bottle and had our own picnic in my car, under the the shade trees. The guy who did the sampling was very nice. But there were at least 5 college age employees who simply stood around, chatting among themselves and eating cheese. The place has changed a lot. Disappointed.

Susan Emhoff

I arrived with 2 friends at approximately 5:00 p.m on a Saturday evening. We found a nice place to sit and there was a man playing a guitar, which was nice. Shortly after finding a place to sit, we walked up to the bar and ordered. There didn't seem to be any waitstaff service offered. I ordered a very delicious wine, which was on the sweet and fruity side and I paired it with a few chocolates, suggested in their menu, and it was very good! My friends opted to share a bottle of chardonnay which was undrinkable. Fortunatley, they were allowed to trade it for a different bottle of white wine, which was good. They had a nice variety of chocolates for sale, which were all very, very good. We were also able to go outside on their deck and sit at a table and view the vineyard. Overall, it was a nice and fun experience.

Yovany Cruz

I've visited a bunch of vineyards this past summer and have not experienced the whole package like I have in Haight Vineyard. Their wines are absolutely delicious! The man that introduced my husband and I to the wines, Giovanny, was a pleasure. Not only did he make us feel welcome, he talked about each wine, and most importantly we shared a wonderful conversation (which is our first meaningful and profound human interaction in any of the vineyards we visited). We bought 4 bottles after our tasting and definitely plan to visit again soon.

Josh Hill

My wife and I bought a Groupon for this place. It was $16 for a wine tasting for 2, including a cheese pairing and free wine glasses. Sounds like a great deal, right? Not so much. For one thing, we were the only people there when we got there. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except the bartender had no one else to take up his time, so he rushed us through the tastings. It took less than half an hour to do tastings of 12 wines. We would take a sip on one wine and he would be hovering there with the next bottle. Also, not to be all "the food is terrible and there's not enough of it," but the samples of wine were pretty tiny. The bottles had automatic pourers that were supposed to measure out the same amount each time, but it didn't work. Sometimes you'd get a full amount, sometimes you'd get half, and the bartender didn't top it off. And neither of us were impressed with the wine, either. We're not even close to wine snobs, but we know what tastes good, and it was only 3 or 4 of the wines we tried. We won't be back again, and we recommend you don't go, either.

Leah Krasnor

Delicious wines at good prices

holly mcintyre

My daughter and I went for the chocolate and cheese wine paring this past wknd and it was a very hot day. Unfortunately it was just as hot inside the facility, absolutely no fans or a/c. Thankfully the group of people we happen to be sitting with were great fun and a distraction from the sweltering temps. On another note we really enjoyed the tastes of the different wines and benefitted from the knowledge of our host.

Joseph Grogan

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was just how deserted this winery was at 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. There were three cars in the parking lot, two of which were employees'. The lobby wasn't much better, housing little more than an empty deli case and aging armchair. We didn't see a soul until we got to the bar area on the second floor, and only one other couple came in afterwards. The workers were friendly enough, and knew enough about the vineyard's offerings to serve us quickly. The service at times seemed too brisk; particularly when we ordered a cheese tasting and the server did little more than rattle off the names of the offerings before scurrying back behind the bar. The wine itself was 'meh.' The two of us shared two bottles: the Riesling and the Strawberry Bliss. I'm no connoisseur, but I enjoyed the Riesling well enough. The Strawberry Bliss, on the other hand, was simply Riesling with strawberry flavoring added - and that's according to the bottle. It wasn't bad by any means, but was a little disappointing to see at a winery - no less one that claims to be Connecticut's oldest. Aside from being sparsely populated, the winery itself is pleasant. Traditional wine making equipment decorates the front lawn, which is nicely complimented by a tree-lined walkway to the front door. You can see the grape vines on the side of the main building as soon as you pull in, and the rear terrace offers views of the rest. The owners clearly don't fancy themselves a big tourist trap - farming equipment is plainly scattered around the grounds, and the vineyard has more of an agricultural atmosphere than that of a tasting room. All-in-all I think this vineyard can best be described as 'nice enough.' Everything is of enough quality to be enjoyable, but nothing will blow you away and there are some pretty glaring flaws. It was a nice place to stumble on after a hike nearby, but certainly nothing to make a trip for.

Lori Alix

Not so much , wine tasted young, they use Essence instead of real strawberries, and over priced! Down the road there's better ones.....

Peter L

Haight-Brown Vineyard is quite a treat. I'm looking forward to the Festival weekend and stomping some grapes. We have a blast every year we go! Yes, not all their wine is produced from entirely their own grapes, but what they make is delicious! The pairings are fun to learn and you get top notch treatment here!

Michelle Wooding

Great place!