After years of living in New England, Ardian Llomi ’11, MS’14 booked a trip back home to his small village of Eçmenik, Albania.

That was in 2007, when Llomi was studying nights at Naugatuck Community College, his sights set on becoming a mechanical engineer. He took a long-awaited break to visit his family as he was about to transfer all his credits over and complete his studies at Fairfield University.

Albania, on Southeastern Europe’s Balkan Peninsula, is a country with a culture that blends Italian, Slavic, Turkish, and Greek traditions. In Llomi’s region, it is largely farms and houses with red clay tile roofs huddled around patches of land that seem overcome by the greenness of agriculture and forests.

Llomi said that he spent his boyhood climbing to the tops of cherry trees “as tall as two-story buildings,” filling his pockets and rolling cherries into the bottom of his shirt. He remembered kicking around along winding dirt roads with a pack of friends, their mouths and fingers fruit-stained.

He grew up in a farming family where they produced everything the family needed to survive, purchasing just a few items such as oil, sugar, and rice.

“Most vegetables came from our farm,” Llomi said in his quiet way. “Potatoes, beans, grains, everything. It was pretty cool, actually, a nice experience. You don’t see it much nowadays.”

During his 2007 visit home, as Llomi strolled along with his parents one day, he looked up and there she was, in a furniture store: the “beautiful, shiny eyes” of his one-day wife Neviana Zhgaba ’11, MS’13. “We started chatting, and the conversation continued to flow,” Zhgaba said about meeting Llomi for the first time in the store her parents owned. “We talked about the United States, Connecticut, and Ardian’s plans to study at Fairfield.”

“What Ardian didn’t know was that I really liked him,” Zhgaba said. The pair spent that night talking and walking through the streets of Zhgaba’s native city, Korçë.

At the time, Zhgaba had been busy applying to study at various universities in Europe. So, in this case, the timing really was everything.

“The next day, I started researching Fairfield University and Connecticut,” Zhgaba said. “I applied early admission, was accepted, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

The couple was reunited on the Fairfield campus in 2008, where “an international love story blossomed.” After graduating with bachelor’s and master’s degrees and tying the knot, Zhgaba embarked on a career as a software engineer with GE and Llomi pursued a career as a mechanical engineer with various firms in Connecticut. But, they both wanted to find a way to bring the simpler joys of the agrarian lifestyle of their youths into their future; they also both loved wine.

So in 2016, Zhgaba and Llomi purchased a 41-acre, 200-year-old farm in Newtown, Connecticut. With the support of their family, the couple spent weekends in a pitched tent and long hours planting grape vines to create Aquila’s (Latin for “Eagle’s”) Nest Vineyards.

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the couple with their two young children in tow (Alex, eight and Eaven, six) opened a tasting room and event venue. Today, the independent boutique winery offers five different varietals and blends including: Queen of Illyria Red Blend, Princess of Troy Merlot, Zana e Malit Dry Riesling, Siren Moscato, and Sybil Dry Rosé Wine. While some grapes that make it into their wine are brought in from California, the 10 acres of planted vines grown by the couple in Newtown include varietals such as Chambourcin, Marquette, Riesling, Cayuga White, Cabernet Franc, Baco Noir, Valvin Muscat, and Traminette.

“Building the vineyard and winery has not only been an experience in new business ownership during a pandemic, but a lesson on keeping in touch with nature as well,” said Zhgaba, who is now also a full-time digital finance and analytics manager with BNY Mellon.

The Aquila’s Nest vineyard is a peaceful expanse of land on a hill, with a new brushed-steel, barn-like facility where the wine is made. Llomi used his engineering smarts to build it himself. The 4,000-square foot production facility shares space with a 75-seat wine bar and tasting room which opens to an outdoor seating terrace overlooking the vineyards.

Llomi, whose day job is with Sonitek in Milford, Conn. as a senior mechanical design engineer, handles the whole vitrification process at the winery. He carefully plots everything from the timing of harvest to the crushing and pressing, the fermentation, the clarification, and the aging and bottling procedures.

“I really did a lot of research to learn about how grapes grow and to find the best varieties that would resist the Northeastern climate,” Llomi said, pointing to hardy Riesling and Cayuga vines that can withstand harsh winters and damp summers.

What makes their wine distinct? “I made it,” Llomi said with a laugh. “If I taste the wine and I like it and it feels special, then I know it’s going to be good. Believe it or not, each one is different and people react to each one in their own way. That’s what’s great about wine, you know?”

One of their red wines, Queen of Illyria Red Blend, is described as having a flavor profile that is “bold and dense” and offers “that classic dry tongue-clicking sensation.” Their Sibyl Dry Rosé offers “an elegant finish of aromas, and flavors of freshly picked strawberries, cherries, and orange blossoms.”

“I get really passionate when talking about the wine here,” Zhgaba said as the couple walked Fairfield University Magazine through their vines one day this summer. “It was so hard to get going, especially with Covid, and we had to learn how to innovate during a pandemic.”

Since opening in October 2020, Aquila’s Nest has welcomed thousands of visitors and many Stags, including Newtown’s First Selectman Dan Rosenthal ’94; Janet Striuli, PhD, associate professor of mathematics, who was Zhgaba’s calculus professor; and their close friend John Burke ’12. All visited in support of their friends and Fairfield connections, and just to enjoy some good wine.

As the couple builds their future together, their Fairfield experience holds a special place in their hearts. “Ultimately, Fairfield University brought us together and helped us grow closer to one another,” Zhgaba said. “[It] taught us who we are and helped shape us into the people we are today.”

Setting sun glowed through the leaves as the family walked through a row of Baco Noir grape vines. Llomi and Zhgaba’s little boys played up ahead, one plucking unripe green grapes and popping them into his mouth, wincing with their sourness, the other wading through tall grass to find Japanese beetles (plentiful because they love to eat grapes leaves, much to Llomi’s dismay).

“This place is like a giant playground for them,” Zhgaba said, looking around at her and Llomi’s realized dream. “This is our nest for our family, and for our community.”

Learn more and plan your visit at aquilasnestvineyards.com.