10/08/2009

Maine Wineries

vinyard Maine’s fledgling wine industry is finally up and running. How in the name of Pinot Noir can wine grapes survive the Maine climate? The answer is as complex as a fine wine. First of all, there is the percentage of Maine wine which, by pure snobbery definition, is not “real” wine; the non-grape fruit wines. Blueberry, pear, apple, elderberry, cranberry and even rhubarb contribute to Maine’s fermentable fruits. An excellent producer of this type of wine is the Bartlett Winery in Gouldsboro, 25 miles east of Acadia. Second, many wineries actually get most of their grapes from elsewhere. This is the case (pardon the pun) with Cellardoor Winery near Camden, about 70 miles west of Acadia. Their grapes come from California, New York and other states. Right here on Acadia we have Bar Harbor Cellars at 854 Rt. 3. Owner Doug Maffucci gets most of his grapes from family back in Italy. Finally, and most importantly, most Maine wineries including the two just mentioned, are trying hard to grow Maine tolerant grape varieties locally, some of which have made it into their products.

It must be said that the above discussion is somewhat sensitive to the extent that 1) wine tourists usually shun fruit wines, 2) wine tourists abhor non-locality for their grapes, believing that they can “taste the soil” at the winery location and that, 3) wine tourists believe non-traditional grape varieties adapted to extreme climates produce inferior wines. I come from Michigan, where on the Leelanau penninsula I witnessed the birth and flowering of northern Michigan’s wine industry. There the climate is just barely able to produce a few “traditional” (pure vinifera, or European) varieties which are made into familiar wine types like Riesling, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. Here in Maine, these varieties are even harder if not impossible to grow. Our “growing degree days” are fewer, rainfall is too abundant and the season is short. What that leaves us with are the so-called hybrid varieties. The newest ones like Marquette and Vignoles grow robustly, require fewer applications of fungicides, have higher yields and produce fine wines. Unfortunately, they can’t go into wines called Pinot or Zinfandel. They don’t fit into the categories at the wine shop, and they’re often rejected by wine tourists. This is a shame. It is a shame that earlier hybrids and native American varieties produced unarguably inferior wines. It is also a shame that Maine wineries sometimes hide the fact that they import most of their grapes, or produce wines from local hybrid grapes with variety-hiding names like “Maine Red”.

I’m optimistic about the future of the Maine wine industry. The University of Minnesota is producing ever better hybrids, often backcrossed so many times with vinifera varieties that true wine snobs can’t tell the difference. It may take another few years, but your next wine tour in Maine may feature fine wines so local you can taste the soil. In the mean time, check out the pear wine and imported/hybrid grape wines, remembering that these wineries are honing their skills for the future as well as producing good vino.