Vineyard Launches

Adopt-A-Tree Program

McLaughlin Vineyard of Sandy Hook is inviting Newtowners to “Adopt a Tree.”

The Alberts Hill Road winery is looking for local families to donate the sap from their sugar maple trees during February and March. A representative from McLaughlin will come to your house to tap sugar maple trees and hang buckets to collect the flowing sap. Due to the mild winter, sugaring will probably begin the last week in January and continue into the first week of March.

Depending on the flow, the sap will be collected, and brought back to the winery for processing. For each tap a family donates, McLaughlin Vineyards will donate 75 cents to The Nature Conservancy.

Many older trees can have up to three taps per tree, so even just a few trees can add up to a lot of sap. It is the sap from sugar maple trees that is boiled into pure maple syrup.

To see if your trees qualify, contact the winery at 426-1533.