Private Wine Tastings in Connecticut
Connecticut hosts book me for private wine tastings across Fairfield County and beyond, and I come to them as a Certified Sommelier working out of Riverhead, New York, with fifteen years in wine. Every tasting starts with a free fifteen-minute planning call, then I build a wine list you buy yourself, and I run the evening at your home, private club, or office. Greenwich, Westport, and Ridgefield are where I travel most, at $350 an hour, three-hour minimum, any group size.
Where tastings happen
Most Connecticut tastings happen in homes across Fairfield County, from a kitchen island in Westport to a dining room in New Canaan or Darien. Private clubs host a fair number too, especially for member events and milestone birthdays. On the corporate side, offices in Stamford and Greenwich book tastings as a break from the workday or to close out a deal season, usually in a conference room or a building's private dining space.
- Greenwich
- Westport
- New Canaan
- Darien
- Fairfield
- Ridgefield
Do you travel to Connecticut for private wine tastings?
I travel to Connecticut regularly for private wine tastings, covering Fairfield County towns including Greenwich, Westport, New Canaan, Darien, Fairfield, and Ridgefield. I'm based in Riverhead, New York, and tastings run at your home, a private club, or an office, any group size, three-hour minimum, at $350 an hour, starting with a free fifteen-minute planning call.
Some Connecticut hosts book a single evening; others bring me back for a holiday party and then a birthday the following spring. Either way, the planning call covers your group, your goal, and roughly what you'd like to spend on wine before we build the list.
Is there a travel charge for Fairfield County?
Travel within 120 miles of Riverhead, New York is included in the $350-an-hour rate for private wine tastings. Much of Fairfield County falls inside that radius, and anything beyond it, including Litchfield County and towns further north, is billed at cost rather than a flat fee. I'll confirm the specifics for your address on the free fifteen-minute planning call.
Because the radius is measured from Riverhead rather than from a fixed Connecticut office, the honest answer depends on your exact address. I'd rather give you the real number on the call than guess and revise it later.
What kinds of Connecticut events do you host?
Connecticut events I host range from small dinner-party tastings for six people to milestone birthdays, holiday parties, and book club gatherings for twenty or more, since there's no group-size limit. Each one runs at your home or a private club, three-hour minimum, with a wine list built around your menu and your guests' taste.
A dinner party for eight plays very differently than a fortieth birthday for thirty, so the format changes: fewer, deeper pours for a small table, and a livelier, more guided pace when the room is bigger. We settle on the shape during the planning call.
Can you run a corporate tasting in Stamford or Greenwich?
Corporate tastings in Stamford and Greenwich, both in Fairfield County, Connecticut, are something I host regularly, usually in a conference room or a building's private dining space, as a break from the workday or to close out a deal season. The format works the same as a home tasting: any group size, three-hour minimum, $350 an hour.
Some offices ask for a quick after-work session before everyone heads to the train; others want a longer, seated tasting tied to a client dinner. Either works, and we settle on timing and format on the planning call.
What do Connecticut hosts usually ask for?
Home hosts across Fairfield County, Connecticut most often ask for a tasting built around what's already in their cellar, since the area has plenty of serious collections built up over years of gifts and dinners. Others want a straightforward introduction to a region they keep seeing on restaurant lists, like Burgundy or the Northern Rhone, without picking it apart alone.
Either way, you do the buying, following a list I put together after the planning call, and I bring the structure and the context to the evening itself. I never bring, sell, or ship the wine myself.
Wine, locally
Fairfield County sits about an hour from Manhattan by Metro-North, and its wine habits often follow the city's: hosts here already know their way around a wine list, and they want a tasting that goes deeper than a shelf-talker recommendation. Greenwich and Westport in particular have a dense concentration of serious home cellars, built up over years of dinners and holiday gifts, and a private tasting is often the first time anyone has actually walked through what's in them, bottle by bottle.
North of Fairfield County, Litchfield County trades commuter energy for a slower, more rural pace, and it's still within reach, just billed at cost once travel runs past the included radius. Towns like Litchfield, Kent, and Washington keep a low-key, garden-party feel that suits an afternoon tasting as easily as an evening one. Wherever the event lands, the format stays the same: a wine list built around your table, not a walk through a vineyard, since the host buys the bottles and I run the evening.
Not in Connecticut on tasting day, or want a wine expert year-round? The Wine Line is a wine expert on call by text, and it works anywhere in the United States.
Plan your tasting in Connecticut.
Tell us about your event on a free fifteen-minute call, and leave with a wine list built around your guests and the occasion.
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