Aquila’s Nest Vineyard was the dream of Ardian Llomi ’11, MS’14 and his wife Neviana Zhgaba ’11, MS’13, who met back in their native Albania and whose romance blossomed through their years of study at Fairfield University. Having spent his childhood frolicking on a farm by the Baltic Sea, Llomi wanted the same kind of living-close-to-the-earth experience for his own children. In 2016, when the couple first set eyes on the 200-year old Newtown farm, they knew their dream was about to start.

Converting the farm into a winery took time, grit, and patience. “We spent our afternoons and weekends working in the vineyard for four long years, sleeping in a tent and building up everything from scratch,” recalled Zhgaba, who graduated from Fairfield with a degree in software engineering. “Ardian figured out everything — from the process of planting 10 acres of vineyards, to the equipment we needed and how it should be used, to the wine-making process and the best way to do it.”

A mechanical engineer, Llomi also built the winery’s 4,000-square-foot brushed steel production facility, which includes a tasting room and opens to an outdoor terrace.

Aquila’s Nest Vineyard, which the couple calls an experience-focused event venue, opened its doors to the public in October 2020.

A theme runs through the winery, reinforced on every bottle of wine sold: the celebration and empowerment of women. Each wine is named after a woman from ancient history or from mythology, explained Zhgaba. There’s a Princess of Troy merlot, for example, and the Sybil dry rosé, while the Queen of Illyria red blend is the vineyard’s signature offering. In a nod to the couple’s love of astronomy, each wine label carries the image of a constellation. Zhgaba also makes it a point to hire female chefs, musicians, and artisans for myriad weekly events, which can include yoga, psychic readings, or karaoke.

The consequences of climate change are clearly on the minds of Aquila’s owners. After all, no one is affected by extreme weather changes more than farmers, said Zhgaba, who noted that 2022’s exceptionally dry summer made for a lean grape harvest. With the purchase of carbon credits, the winery has been certified as climate neutral; indeed, sustainability is evident from the compostable dining materials to the fallen wood used for heating. There are plans to install solar panels within the year, and, in homage to Llomi’s childhood spent climbing trees and gathering cherries, the couple has planted 50 cherry trees. Becoming a fully carbon-neutral enterprise is part of the duo’s five-year plan.

“We were voted the best vineyard in the state by Connecticut Magazine in 2023,” said Zhgaba, who maintains her connection to Fairfield with her position on the School of Engineering and Computing’s Executive Board of Advisors. Aquila’s Nest is also the site of the much-anticipated summer social event that brings together the School’s board members, as well as faculty and their families every June. She handles much of the business end of the winery, putting her background in data and analytics to good use while juggling her job at the Bank of New York Mellon.

As for giving their two young sons that living–close-to-the-earth childhood? The boys, ages eight and ten, clearly relish their oversized outdoor playground, and “they both want to be engineers,” said Zhgaba proudly.