A chateau in the Loire valley? A castle in the Barolo hills?Maybe, but one thing was quickly becoming clear: Fireside Tavern at Sharpe Hill Vineyard is no ordinary restaurant. but wait, that mural on the wall, misty and mysterious. Wide floorboards, sloping eves and ladder-back chairs evoked a Colonial farmhouse. A pretty, chatty young woman led us up steep narrow stairs to the Fireside Tavern, well-named for the huge central hearth and chimney which dominate the room. ![]() Reservations, especially in leaf season, must be made weeks in advance but the warm welcome we received was worth the effort. We parked in a field, paused to admire a weathered split-rail fence, its zigzag pattern as iconic as Connecticut’s fieldstone walls, and then following a series of “Entrance” signs, found ourselves facing a huge barn door that slid open to reveal a candlelit reception room with a reservation desk, a library table set with antique silver, and a corner staircase. When we arrived in late afternoon, golden sunlight and deep purple shadows striped rows of leafy vines covering a gentle hill that could have been in Napa or Sonoma-or Tuscany. With the star of its wine list an award-winning white called Ballet of Angels, how could it not be enchanting? The Fireside Tavern at Sharpe Hill Vineyard is the perfect place. ![]() Now and on into autumn, when the grapes are harvested and the Connecticut hills turn red and gold, is the perfect time. ★★½ Editor's note: This restaurant review also appears in the September Connecticut Magazine.
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