Lincolnville-based Cellardoor Winery opened its long-talked-about downtown Portland tasting room in mid-November. It was worth the wait.
Gone are the opulent chandeliers and the pink décor from its former Portland location, at Thompson’s Point. The new vibe is classier, yet still luxurious and relaxing, thanks in large part to the extremely comfortable upholstered barstools with backs and footrests. The walls are a soothing shade of gray, and several tables are made from wine barrels and decorated with corks.
When you enter, a hostess greets you, takes your coat and checks your vaccination card, then lets you choose where to sit. In addition to the wine barrel tables, there are sofas as well as an area in the back that can seat up to 20 people. A 30th birthday party was taking place there during my visit, but the acoustics were such that we couldn’t hear it at the front of the tasting room. Like the old location, Cellardoor has a fabulous gift shop featuring reasonably priced items you don’t see elsewhere.
Ordering is simple. There are three flight options, each for $15, or you can order a glass of wine for $10 from a menu of eight white, eight red, two rosé, two sparkling and four dessert wines. Bottles range from $10 to $45, with most in the $20-$30 range. I went with a flight of four whites: a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Riesling, and a blend of Sémillon and Chenin Blanc. My drinking companion opted for the Special Selects flight, described by our server as perfect for people who can’t make up their mind. It featured five wines: a rosé, a Pinot Noir Blanc, the same Sémillon/Chenin Blanc blend that I had in my flight, a Tuscan-inspired red blend, and a spicy red blend of Tempranillo, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon.
When we finished our flights (about the equivalent of a glass and a half of wine total per flight), I ordered a glass of sparkling rosé and my friend ordered a glass of a red wine called Sur La Riviere, primarily because the description said it had notes of both ruby red grapefruit and toasted marshmallow. We figured it was either going to be amazing or revolting, and we were feeling adventurous. I’m not typically a red wine person, but I liked it so much I bought a bottle of it to take home ($24), as did my friend.
Flights and composed charcuterie boards are served in plastic containers, taking away from the otherwise elegant ambience.
Cellardoor also offers two charcuterie platters prepared by The Portland Board, a mobile charcuterie board purveyor. Alternatively, you can build your own board from a wide variety of cheeses. For both options, crackers can be purchased on the side. We went for the $20 meat and cheese platter, which came with olives, pickled onions, dried fruit, nuts, fresh berries, salami and two kinds of cheese. It was delicious, but in hindsight, I wished we had gone with the build-your-own option. It really took away from the experience to be eating everything out of plastic containers; it just didn’t match the rest of the atmosphere.
Along similar lines, the wines for the flights come in little plastic condiment-style containers that turned out to be quite hard to open without sloshing wine on yourself. Consequently, next time I go (and there will definitely be a next time), I’ll stick to ordering a regular glass.
The plastic serving containers (which I assume are a product of the pandemic) are, however, my only quibble with what was otherwise a genuinely wonderful experience. The ambience is top-notch, as was the service, and I’m already looking forward to my next visit.
Retired diplomat Angie Bryan writes about Maine’s cocktail bars while making as many puns as her editor allows.
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