As CT Examiner reported in November 2025, for most of the last four decades, the 200-plus acres off Wintechog Hill Road were the kind of property people drove past without a second look. A former dairy farm, corn grown there under lease for somebody else's herd, sections of it grown over and hard to walk through. The new owners say they heard from neighbors that the land had been sitting on the market, on and off, since sometime in the early 1980s. Nobody wanted it.
Now it is the site of the biggest agricultural build North Stonington has seen in years, and the reason has nothing to do with luck. It comes down to the exact tilt of the hill, and that same tilt is the reason another local landmark, a few hundred yards down the same road, has been drawing hikers for generations.
The Farm Nobody Wanted, and Why That Changed
Brian and Sarah Zuro bought the property to build Greystone Winery, a project now rising on what the couple markets as Everbreeze Hill. Brian is a lawyer, Sarah a longtime educator, and both trace their interest back to a trip to Sonoma and Napa in their twenties. What made this particular hillside work, when so many other properties they'd looked at didn't pencil out, was something specific about its orientation. Brian explained it to CT Examiner in a November 2025 interview:
"We face the south. That's good. And everyone says, oh, you want a south facing hill that's really good for grapes, that's really good for what we're doing, but you don't want it to be exactly north, south. You actually want it on about a 20 some degree tilt, just given the way the sun comes up and down. Turns out, we have that exact tilt. It was naturally done."
That is not atmosphere. It is the physical reason a former dairy farm suddenly makes sense as a vineyard. The main field is 35 acres, and 30 of those are now planted with seven grape varieties, a mix of reds and whites, according to the same reporting. Job postings for the property describe vines that have already been through several growing seasons, and last fall's harvest was sent to a winery in New York's Finger Lakes region for pressing, since Greystone's own bottling equipment wasn't yet running on site.
The Hill Was Already Doing Something Else
Here is the part that most coverage of the new winery misses. Wintechog Hill Road isn't just where Greystone happens to sit. It's also the road that leads to the trailhead for Lantern Hill, the short, steep hike that gives southern Connecticut one of its best overlooks. According to AllTrails, parking for the main Lantern Hill Trail sits right off Wintechog Hill Road, and hikers who make the climb are rewarded with views that stretch out over Lantern Hill Pond, with Foxwoods Casino visible in the distance on a clear day.
Lantern Hill is also the western starting point for the Narragansett Trail, a blue-blazed route first completed in 1936 that runs roughly 15 miles across North Stonington before crossing into Rhode Island, where it switches to yellow blazes. Follow it far enough and it passes the boat launch at Wyassup Lake, a quieter stop most people driving through town have never noticed.
The elevation and southern exposure that make Lantern Hill worth the climb are the same features that made Everbreeze Hill worth planting. Hikers have been using this ridge for its view for close to a century. Grape growers are only now catching up to what the slope was doing all along.
Not the First Vine on This Hill
Greystone isn't dropping into empty ground. Jonathan Edwards Winery, at 74 Chester Maine Road, has been operating in North Stonington for years, and its tasting room sits inside a restored World War II-era airplane hangar overlooking its own vineyard rows. Just over the town line, Stonington Vineyards runs a Friday night concert series in July and August and keeps its tasting room open daily, year-round. A newer tasting room, Kingdom of the Hawk, opened in the same stretch of hill country in 2023.
Brian Zuro told CT Examiner that the neighboring vineyards see the new arrival as cooperation rather than competition, trading notes on pests and disease the way farmers always have. What Greystone adds to that existing cluster is scale. At 200-plus acres, with 30 already under vine, it's a considerably larger footprint than the smaller, longer-established operations nearby, and the plans filed with North Stonington's Planning and Zoning Commission describe a 13,580-square-foot main tasting building with two tasting rooms, a covered porch, and an outdoor terrace, plus a second building with an observation loft overlooking the tank room, barrel room, and bottling room so visitors can watch the wine actually being made.
What's Actually Ready to Visit Right Now
None of this is finished yet. As of the reporting last November, the hospitality barn hadn't broken ground, and Greystone's own site still describes the property in future tense, aiming to welcome guests sometime in 2026. A job listing for an assistant winemaker lists a September 2026 start date, which suggests the team is still assembling even as summer runs its course. If you're curious about visiting, it's worth checking Greystone's own site before making the drive, since an exact public opening date hasn't been locked in.
In the meantime, here's what's already open along this same corridor:
- Lantern Hill Trail – a 1.2 to 2.5 mile round trip depending on the route, with roadside parking off Wintechog Hill Road and no dedicated lot. Best hiked May through October, according to Trailforks.
- Jonathan Edwards Winery – 74 Chester Maine Road, open for tastings, with a tasting room built inside a restored airplane hangar overlooking the vines.
- Wyassup Lake – a quieter stop along the Narragansett Trail, with a boat launch off Wyassup Lake Road.
- Stonington Vineyards – just over the town line, open daily for tastings with a Friday night concert series in July and August.
The Part Worth Remembering
The easy version of this story is "North Stonington has a new winery." The more useful version is that this particular ridge, the one carrying Wintechog Hill Road, has been valuable for the same reason for a very long time, whether the people using it were climbing it for the view or, eventually, figuring out it was good for grapes. The former dairy farm wasn't overlooked because it was worthless. It was overlooked because nobody had connected the dots between a hiking trail's elevation and a vineyard's exposure. Someone finally has, and the build now underway is a much bigger bet on that hillside than anything that came before it.
If you're already living with this view out your window, or thinking about what a hillside lot like this one is actually worth once you understand what makes it valuable, that's the kind of local read Renee McCammon brings to every conversation about North Stonington real estate. You can also browse more about the town on her North Stonington neighborhood page. Let's Connect whenever you're ready to talk about what's next.
