During a week of visits to five of the nine wineries on the CoastalWine Trail, I quickly realized that more than two vineyard or winery stops in one day didn’t work for me.

First of all, the tours at each vineyard are informative and stimulating but they might become less so if you did more than two back to back. Secondly, it’s nice to take in the scenery at the vineyards and on the drives there; you might also want to include sightseeing, shopping or dining out as part of your mini-road trip.

In addition, each wine tasting is an enjoyable conversation starter, sharing opinions with fellow tasters but, again, that could change if you do too many tastings in a row. And, lastly, each vineyard has distinctive features that lure you to stick around for a while: live music, a gourmet café, a farmers’ market, an art gallery or even a wine dinner.

One intrinsically interesting aspect about visiting local wineries is their small, homegrown nature. As one fellow tour guest put it: “We’ve toured in Napa Valley, where the wineries seem more like factory operations—but here, it’s so hands-on and mom-and-pop that it’s much more fun. And the wines are just as good, if not better!”

That shouldn’t be surprising, given how much grape-growing and wine-making knowledge and experience New England wineries have gained over the past four decades; how similar the growing conditions in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts are to renowned wine districts in Europe, such as France’s Loire Valley or Germany’s Mosel and Rhine regions; and the fact that most local wineries use European grapevines grafted onto North American rootstock.

And that’s just a sample of what I learned from the winery tours!

My personal suggestion for visiting Rhody’s coastal wineries would be an in-state stay cation: Treat yourself to a three-day wine-trail weekend.  Think about spending a night or two at a bed-and-breakfast, grabbing lunch or supper near the wineries and giving yourself time to leisurely tour, taste and shop at each vineyard.

Friday’s first sip…

If you travel from west to east, as we did, you can begin with the luxury of a winery and a B&B, all in one, at Langworthy Farm inWesterly, where Joe and Gail Sharry opened their bedand- breakfast in 2000. You can have a hearty breakfast (in preparation for

a day of wine tasting) in the Victorian dining room with its hand-painted murals or on the sweeping porch of this 1875 farmhouse. And if you arrive for a Friday overnight in the late afternoon, Joe will treat you to your first wine tasting of the weekend.

Joe Sharry had been a hobbyist winemaker for 20 years before producing Langworthy’s first official bottle of wine in the spring of 2005.  He prefers spicy red wines, and his Misquamicut Merlot won a bronze medal in the 2009 Big E (Eastern States Exposition) wine competition.

The Sharrys have two acres planted in white grapes (they get red grapes from Long Island and upstate New York), and they produce 1,000 cases

of wine annually.

Let’s emphasize one thing about wine tasting: It’s subjective. Just as some may never like the taste of fresh ginger or cilantro, some may never appreciate the bite and flourish of a Merlot. People simply have different sets of taste buds. Though both my husband and I prefer a Riesling to be as dry as possible (and we both valued Langworthy’s Rhody Riesling for this quality), we bumped into two other tasters searching for a sweet white wine.

Saturday with picnic fare…

On Saturday, your goals could be Newport and Greenvale Vineyards. Newport’s winery is on Route 138, next to one of its three vineyards, totaling 60 acres, with 25 acres currently planted. Brothers John and Paul Nunes have owned the winery since 1995; they grow five varieties of red grapes and nine of white, giving winemaker George Chelf numerous possibilities for blends as well as straight varietals. They produce 18,000 cases a year.

On our tour at Newport Vineyards, we learned that not only the provenance of the oak used to make a barrel (American vs. French, Appalachian vs. Ozark) but also the length of time the barrel is dried over a wood fire will affect the taste of the wine aged within it. Newport staff estimate that about a bottle a month is “lost” from a barrel (“the angels’ share”), through evaporation.

Newport has had many award-winners over the years, and we gravitated to a gold medalist from the prestigious Finger Lakes competition in 2009: the Newport Riesling. We both liked the wine’s finish, its semidryness and the hint of mineral fizz on our tongues.

Before your five-minute drive to Greenvale Vineyards, you can put together a dynamite lunch from the booths at the Aquidneck Growers’ Market right outside Newport Vineyards’ winery: two bakeries, two cheese purveyors, several farms with fresh fruit and salad fixings and even stands that offer coffee or snacks.

On Saturday afternoons from May through October, Greenvale presents live jazz concerts, so you can spread out that farm-fresh picnic while sampling one of this winery’s award-winning vintages. The Greenvale property is a historic farm where fourth-generation owner, the late Courtland Parker, with wife, Nancy, began to grow grapes in the 1960s. Since that time, 24 acres have been cultivated as vineyards (3,500 cases a year) and the stable has been converted to a beautiful rustic tasting room.

On our guided stroll through the orderly vineyards and flower lined paths, we had glimpses of the Sakonnet River, and we could stare mesmerized at the horns and shaggy coats of MacIntosh and Burberry, the Highland cattle who act as weed and brush control.

Our tasting of Greenvale’s wines—all made from their own grapes, and thus completely “estate-grown”—was a marvelous progression from Pinot Gris and Chardonnay to Vidal Blanc (an old favorite) and Skipping Stone White—a great new friend. We also tasted The Elms Meritage, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, and we liked its hefty fruit tones.

“We like to make wines that still retain the fruit flavor of the grape,” co-owner Nancy ParkerWilson told us, “but we like them dry.”

Sunday samplings….

You could spend your second night at nearby Shamrock Farm Inn in Portsmouth and head to Sakonnet Vineyards late Sunday morning, after a large country-style Irish breakfast. Sakonnet is the oldest vineyard/winery in Rhode Island (begun in 1975).

Even King Charles in his 1663 charter noted that if any New World settlers were so inclined, this region would be “encouraging” to wines.

So when Susan and Earl Sampson bought Sakonnet in 1987, Susan said of their wine, “If he can make it, I can sell it.” Indeed, she’s done a marvelous job of spreading the word about Sakonnet’s wines all across the country.

Sakonnet’s tour begins with a video of vivid images of an entire growing season before leading you through the wine-making processes of de-stemming, juice-crushing, fermentation, aging, bottling and labeling, ending at the spacious tasting room and the adjacent Coop Café.  This summer, Wayne Gibson (a chef familiar to many Rhode Islanders) is helming the menu, with his delicious and always creative touch.

Wines in the tasting room are all estate-grown. Sakonnet’s 35^th Anniversary claret is an inspired mix of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, with a touch of Merlot; their Petite White a delightful blend of Vidal Blanc and Gewürztraminer grapes; and the sparkling Blanc de Blanc one of the best champagnes we’ve ever sipped.

Just over the border but also on the wine trail, Westport Rivers Vineyards specializes in sparkling wines, made in the 300-year-old traditional French method. We were entranced by their Rosé of Pinot Noir, not sweet but very redolent of summer berries and flowers, and by their Blanc de Noirs, with its hints of citrus and pepper. All of Westport’s wines are estate-grown on 80 planted acres.

Our engaging and articulate guide Craig Caesar gave the most thorough tour of the five, beginning with the history of Westport’s vineyards (350 acres preserved agriculturally, established by Bob and Carol Russell and now passed to sons Bob and Bill).We heard an overview of the growing season near rivers and ocean and an explanation of pruning and tying of the vines. One of Craig’s most fascinating stories concerned the “riddling” of the champagne, which consolidates the yeast into a plug in the bottle neck, which is, in turn, frozen and popped out before the bottle is corked.

There are so many more things to learn at these five wineries: Which grapes need to be hand-picked?Which grapes grow best in this climate?Which wines ferment in stainless steel tanks and which in oak barrels? Which wineries prefer screw tops to corks? But, most importantly: Which of our region’s local wines do you like best and why? eR

Johnette Rodriguez first discovered Rieslings as a college student in Germany and Pinot Noirs while living in California. She is a food, travel and arts writer published in Yankee, Saveur, the Boston Globe, New England Travel