A Love Letter to Maine (& Nebbiolo)
The Maine food and wine industry is noteworthy, and it extends far beyond Portland.
Angelo Negro Basarin Barbaresco DOCG 2021
Varieties: Nebbiolo
Region: Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy
Producer: Angelo Negro / Giovanni Negro
Costs: $40-$50
Missive: A Love Letter to Maine (& Nebbiolo)
There is a beauty to good Nebbiolo that is simply unmatched. That statement is also coming from a Sangiovese lover, mind you. It may be comparing apples to oranges, and it probably is, but the Nebbiolo train is hitting me hard tonight. Perhaps I need to be hit hard, snap myself out of it. The wine is doing exactly that. This single-vineyard Barbaresco is giving me all the tough love I need. A way to remind you what is important, and an appreciation for life and where that takes place. Maine is a pretty cool place, folks.
This last week highlighted how special the food and wine scene in Maine really is. You get incredible wine festivals, a la Maine Wild Wine Fest. There is no shortage of renowned farm-to-table restaurants. And, the availability of interesting and honest wines in the state is shocking. You can walk into a wine shop and see labels ranging from Roberto Voerzio to Clos Cibonne to Arnot-Roberts. It may not be every wine shop in Maine, but they do exist, and they are not just in Portland.
Whew, I am fired up. Drinking an offshoot of the wine of kings has my regal part activated, and I am declaring judgments upon this wine and thee, and me. The verdict on the wine? Incredible, and we are about to get into that. This bottle of Nebbiolo is lifted and chalky, offering an almost tense take on the grape. About an hour in, it has really calmed down, and the fruit has changed substantially. At first, a very sweet strawberry note transports you to the south of France. The wine has crushed, gravelly red fruit that takes on a cacao and almost a bitter spiced note.
However, an hour or more in, we are at a totally different spot. The overwhelmingly ripe, sweet red-fruit note has morphed into a more subdued blood-orange and citrus note. The cacao note is still there, which I absolutely adore, but there is now an accompanying eucalyptus and sweet mint component. Again, this is Nebbiolo done exceptionally well, both in the vineyard and in the cellar.
The palate tension of this wine mirrored the aromatics. This Nebbiolo started shaky and tense because it was so young in its life cycle for the bottle. Drinking a 2021 single-vineyard Barbaresco in May of 2026 is nothing. It’s like dropping your kid off at kindergarten for the first time. A little bit shaky, and it certainly takes some time to open up. That assessment is from a guy who doesn’t have a kid, by the way, so you can trust my word. Anyways, the wine quickly found its way, and the angles smoothed out. It became more rounded on the palate. The wine was in more of a surveying mood by the end, taking in the scenery, rather than just running around mindlessly. Let that be a lesson for all involved.
This is an incredible bottle of wine. Of course, the nerdy part of me wants to buy a half-case or so for the cellar. If I enjoy the Basarin vineyard this much now, then what’s it going to give me in a decade or so? I can’t even imagine the level of chocolate-covered Sicilian fruit this wine will take on. Sautéed strawberries garnished with chocolate, mint, and orange peel. I can see it so clearly. I can also see other things so clearly.
Of course, life can change in an instant; however, a detailed vision for the future can keep the pillars of a life from being swayed by the constant changes of the outside world. Certain beliefs, wherever they originate from, can guide one’s overarching goals. One that has hit me recently is to bet heavily on Maine’s future in the food and wine scene. There are a lot of folks who are passionate about their individual lanes within the industry.
Since I moved to Maine, I have been solely working in the food and wine industry. That evolved from working at a craft beer place to now being a business partner at a food and wine shop. It’s been a journey, and it’s only just now really taking shape. Along the way, I have met some truly incredible people who share such a passion for this community. The combination of food and wine, not in a pretentious manner, really allows one to appreciate how it brings people together.
Take Hannah and Devin at Winona’s, for example. This is a restaurant in Camden, a small town on the midcoast of Maine, that one can confidently say deserves national recognition. Maybe it has already been received. I’m not sure, either way, make it happen. Dishes that make your jaw drop when they come out due to their visual presentation. Then, you break into them, and you have to hold your jaw up from dropping simply because you want to eat more.
Alongside charming and intimate restaurants is a bustling maritime industry. One of my more recent explorations involves driving freshly harvested scallops from Belfast, Maine, to the seaport in Boston. From there, these little suckers get shipped out to restaurants in New York City, Chicago, and other cities. Andrew at Vertical Bay Scallops has a real vision for regenerative scallop farming. Hell, he is in a documentary with Martha Stewart on PBS. This is a guy from Maine, and not Portland, mind you, who supplies hip restaurants in major cities with his product. He harvests them early Wednesday morning, I drive them to Boston shortly after, and by that night, they are on restaurant lists.
Then, add in something like the Maine Wild Wine Fest. This annual festival highlights the role of natural wine in the Maine restaurant industry. A chance for true Maine wine producers to showcase their goods to a larger audience, in addition to international producers who wish to share their story in person with a community that wants to hear it. Rather large names like Salvatore Marino, Fabien Jouves, and Michele D’Aprix have made appearances. Represented importer portfolios include Zev Rovine Selections, Hootananny Wines, and many more. You can find many exciting bottles that tell a story on the shelves of wine stores in Portland, through the Midcoast, all the way up to Eastport.
I’m intensely passionate about these things and having them receive the recognition they deserve. Maine is a great place to live, even if it does have its issues, as every state does. From here on out, it’s about recognizing the energy bottled up in this next generation of people involved in the general food and wine industry. Maine needs to make it easier for folks in all lanes of the restaurant space to make a living. The farmers and suppliers, distributors and wholesalers, all the way down to the restaurants and retailers. There are challenges ahead, but enough wine and courage to fortify us all to take up the mantle.
I’ve got visions, prophetic ones, almost like those of the ancient oracles. It involves my ordering 1,000 bottles of private-label wine from Bakkanali to inaugurate the year I open my agrotourism business. Something with a chicken or a donkey on the front, I think, or maybe a pig. This Nebbiolo has me seeing the future… call me Raven! I hope certain folks get that, or I may be very dated. Either way, I emerge victorious. This wine has given me perspective and vision for the future, and my place in the world of food and wine. One must learn from all the amazing mentors out there, and there is no shortage of them in Maine. Cheers to recognizing what may be subtle yet perfect.
I love this article! What a beautiful tribute to the wine, Maine and to your future in both!
Nebbiolo working in Maine was unexpected. If maritime climate preserves acidity, then diurnal temperature swings matter more than latitude. This made me want to try it.