Vendor Highlight: Oyster River Winegrowers
Wine Growing in Midcoast Maine
By Jan Heimlich
To appreciate wine growing in Maine, you have to realize one important aspect of the trade: Grapes can grow almost anywhere in the world. That’s according to Allie Willenbrink and Brian Smith, the co-owners of Oyster River Winegrowers in Warren.
“There have been many advances in the last few decades with hybridizing wine grapes to produce more cold hardy varieties,” Allie writes in an email. “These hybrid grapes are usually names that people have never heard of before, like La Crescent and Vidal Blanc, versus the ones that everyone has heard of like Chardonnay, Merlot, and Pinot noir.”
Their biggest challenge? Mildew and fungus pathogens. “We manage our vineyards organically, so this can also be a challenge since organic controls for mildew are sometimes less effective,” said Allie.
Oyster River grows mostly hybrids but they also grow the more widely known classic vinifera varieties (common grape vine species that produce such varieties of wine as cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and merlot).
The backgrounds of Allie and Brian include both a history of wine growing and Maine roots. Brian has a degree in viticulture and enology from UC Fresno in California. After graduating, he and Allie headed back to Maine where she is from. “It was a bit of a pioneering experience starting a vineyard and winery in Maine, but we persevered,” she said. Eighteen years later, their brand is widely known throughout the region with many visitors stopping by their tasting room and wine shop in Warren.
All of the grapes Oyster River grows on its farm go into their house sparkling wine, Chaos. It’s a traditional-method sparkling wine that spends two to five years on the lees (deposits of residual yeast). They also make wines from grapes they purchase from vineyards in the Northeast.
Oyster River wines have been featured in Bon Appetite and Food & Wine magazines and are served at some highly acclaimed restaurants in New York City. Their most popular wine is Morphos, a Petalant Natural wine, which they’ve been making since 2012. It has become a household name in the natural wine world and their biggest seller year after year, distributed across ten states.
In addition to visiting the tasting room and wine shop, customers can also join Oyster River’s wine club that offers 20% off all purchases for purchasing the minimum of twelve bottles per year of their seasonal releases.
Find Oyster River Winegrowers products at the Good Tern Co-op, and learn more about their operation by visiting their website and following them on Facebook and Instagram.