New Winery on Branford/North Branford Line Nears Opening Date

NORTH BRANFORD, CT - Wine lovers who have anxiously been watching the progress on a winery building on Rose's Farm near the Branford/North Branford line for the past year there is some good news for you - the opening is around the corner.

Jon Rose told Patch this weekend, while taking a break on working on the tasting room that overlooks the family farm and soon-to-winery, "that if all goes well we're hoping for a late summer, probably August opening."

It is impossible to miss the constant work going on at the tasting room as you drive by the farm, and Rose said "there's definitely a lot of excitement about the winery." He said he gets asked about it "all the time."

Rose said he has all the necessary approvals from the town of North Branford to open the winery - a dream of his and members of his family for years - and now it is just a matter of finishing the job.

Work on the winery has been going on at Rose's for more than two years.

Last year, Jon Rose talked to Patch extensively about his plans to open up a winery on the property which abuts Van Wilgen's.

Rose said idea to turn the area that buffers Rose's and the adjacent Van Wilgen's into a farm winery Rose said, came from his uncle and father, who are the patriarch's of the family farming business. "My uncle started cleaning up the area and once we saw it open up my dad said – "Maybe we should plant grapes."

Rose immediately took that idea, noting: "Farm wineries are very popular in Connecticut now. I thought to myself, let's do this!"

Rose began researching farm wineries, learning everything he could about the industry.

When the winery does finally open it'll likely, at first, start off with some wines from other grapes that Rose said will be shipped in because it takes time to grow your own grapes.

The Rose wine trees are now in their third season of growth.

"We'll probably have about eight different varieties of wines when we first open," Rose said.

Rose said while the winery is an important aspect of the family business, it is only an aspect, and the rest of the farming the family does will remain a priority for the family as it has been for centuries.

Robert Rose, born in 1594 in England and died in 1664 in Branford, was the first Rose to settle in Connecticut. Now in the 11th and 12th generations, some of the original descendants of Robert Rose still live on the grounds of their original home on the farm.

But while family farming will always be in the Rose blood, it is clear that Jon Rose believes that the farm winery gives the family an opportunity to take it to another level.

Jon Rose said the winery when it does open will be open-year round, and his plan is to have catered events be a staple of the tasting room.