Sunday, July 14, 2013

Maine wineries 2: Savages Oakes

After our first impressive experience at Cellardoor Winery, we set off to our next destination: Savage Oakes Vineyard. The back roads of the Camden area took us around beautiful lakes full of swimmers and kayakers, and we ended up on a beautiful hill with a vista and a dead-end road. No vineyard in sight. Obviously, I should have updated my maps as the GPS. Friendly people sent us down the mountain and back on Route 17.

The tasting room was much smaller this time, but the focus of Savage Oakes winery is different – it is an working farm growing all the grapes that are used for making the local wines. As a family business they are the wine makers, the website and label designers, the business people and the farm people. They grow up to 8 different grapes, whites, roses and red grapes that grow in the Maine climates.

The owner, who also was our gracious, knowledgeable wine tasting host let us taste all the wines they make. Most have Maine names and antique photos of e.g. Katahdin, or self-designed labels. I mostly liked the Georges River white, their most popular wine,  and 2 blush ones, a sweeter on and a blush wine that tastes like a white wine. After much laugher and chatting (this comes with the territory of wine tasting), we bought some bottles, and ventured over to the vineyard, many rows of vines growing on a small hill.  I wish I could say we unpacked our tomato grueyere tart and opened a just bought bottle of wine, and sat down at the picnic tables next to the vines but we headed back to Camden. Next time!

Savage Oakes Winery:
Elmer & Holly Savage
174 Barrett Hill Rd.
Union, Maine 04862
(207)785-2828
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