Maine Meadworks

I've never had Mead. I've heard about it, or rather read about it in a novel or
two.  Probably at some point during the storyline where the main character takes
a sip of the Mead before he kills Colonal Mustard in the library with a candle
stick.
At any rate, we (my hubby and I) find ourselves driving around Portland trying
to find this place. We got lost because our GPS is a worthless liar and
frequently tries to get me lost. This time was no exception. It took us to the
exact oppsite end of the street on the exact opposite side of town. Needless to
say, by the time we got there, we were irritable....and thirsty.
This is where things improve notably. We were greeted by a very lovely and very
pregnant young women who told us all about Mead. It's made from honey. How

lovely!  I love honey.

Evidently, Mead has been around much longer than beer or wine. According to our
lovely pregnant lady, it is classified as a wine. One of her coworkers Andrew
was kind enough to give us a tour. Its an interesting process and quite labor
intensive for this small business as pretty much everything is done by hand. 
But the end product is quite nice.
We sampled 6 or 7 different flavors such dry mead, strawberry, blueberry, semi
sweet, lavendar, reserve and one that had hopps in it. It tasted like beer!  The
others were similar to a reisling in that they were light in color, light on the
palate, and gentle sweetness. With the fruit flavors, a certain amount of
sweetness is expected. I thought the dry Mead tasted mildy sweet and assumed
that was because of the honey.  Evidently it's more of a "perceived sweetness"
because of the process, there is no sugar left in it and it's not acidic.  So
what's left is a light, pleasing, gentle drink.  My hubby and I both noted a
mild aftertaste with all the Meads, especially the fruit flavored ones.  But,
they were still nice enough that we bought 3 bottles.
Maine does have several wineries. Actually I googled it and found 6.  Obviously
Maine does not have a long growing season, so most of these wineries produce
fruit wines such as apple and strawberry.  I even found one that does a rheubarb
wine!
It's my understanding from what I've read that most grapes come to Maine
wineries in the form of juice or must (juice plus skins and seeds). We bought
several from a Winterport Maine winery to give as gifts to our fellow wine
drinking friends. One in particular is a blueberry, raspberry wine with
chocolate.  Like I stated, the plan is give it to friends, but I may end up
drinking this one.
Wow, I didn't think I'd have much to wine blog about in Maine.  I could easily
go on for days. But I won't. Its time to start thinking about next week.  I feel
a white or maybe a rose coming on....