Today, we finish up with the Maine wineries.

We start with Shalom Orchard which makes a few wines from the organic fruits grown on the property.  We actually got to the winery late and before they actually opened for season by a day, but the friendly staff opened the winery for us.  In light of this, I hate to say that the wines here were just awful. I wouldn’t actually waste my time stopping at this one again when there are much better wineries just a few miles away.  These wines were so bad I actually thought they may have been stored improperly or subjected to very warm temperatures.  I always feel obligated to buy something when the staff is so nice, so I purchased some homemade organic applesauce that I haven’t yet opened. I am really hoping that this is much better than the wine.

Our next stop was Cellar Door Winery‘s tasting room in Freeport, Maine.  The tasting room is lovely and very nicely decorated.  The problem here was the wine. The wine was very good but a quick peek at the tasting sheet shows you that the vast majority of the grapes used in making the wine are from major wine growing regions out West.  Therefore, I am not really sure I would qualify this as a Maine winery.  I really feel that if I am visiting a local winery– I want to buy local. I want the grapes to be grown nearby.  I understand that most varieties of grape will not grow in the cold climate of Maine. Therefore, use the other products you have available as other local wineries have done. This winery does do a good blueberry; however, it was a bit sweet for me.

Breakwater Vineyards and Farm was another stop on our whirlwind wine tour.  This winery was in a lovely locale with the tasting room located within a beautiful manor style, colonial home.  The wines here were all very good and I would recommend this as a stop if you want to try some Maine wines.  My only complaint was that the staff here seemed a bit pretentious.  The mead here was actually drinkable by someone, like me, who is not a fan of mead.

Speaking of mead, our last stop was at a meadery. The Fat Friar’s Mead is located within the basement of the owner and brewers basement.  There is no real tasting room here but the owner is very friendly and willing to give you a quick tour of how he makes the mead.  Not being a fan of mead, I don’t feel that I can make a judgement about the quality of the product. There was an interesting mead done with peppers that we thought would be very good as a vodka substitute for a bloody mary

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