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All the United States Maine Union Sweetgrass Winery
AO Edited Gastro Obscura

Sweetgrass Winery

Grapes be damned, this distillery makes wine from apples, blueberries, cranberries, and more.

Union, Maine

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Luke Fater
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Sweetgrass Winery   COURTESY OF SWEETGRASS WINERY
View from the back of the winery   Ian Engweiler / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the Sweetgrass winery, looking at the production area for their products   Ian Engweiler / Atlas Obscura User
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There are a few reasons why wine is primarily made from grapes. They have a higher sugar content than most fruits, leaving their fermented product with a higher alcohol content; grapes also don’t have as many pesky acids to contend with, tame, or otherwise mask; and there’s simply more demand for grape wine than alternatives. None of these reasons, however, has discouraged husband-and-wife team Keith and Constance Bodine of Maine’s Sweetgrass Winery from making wines, spirits, and ciders from unexpected fruits—not a grape among them.

After earning a master’s in Food Science and Enology (winemaking) from the University of California, Davis, Keith moved to Constance’s home state of Maine in the early 2000s. Instead of lamenting the fact that most traditional grape varieties didn’t perform well in Maine’s climate, he resorted to other means in crafting the fermented drinks he’d hoped for.

To date, Sweetgrass Winery has produced a Cabernet Sauvignon made from Maine blueberries, a brandy made from local cranberries, an Apple Sangria, a rhubarb liqueur, a maple syrup brandy, a Blueberry Apple hard cider, and more. Sweetgrass’s apple wine won Best Wine in Maine at the 2010 Eastern States Exposition Wine Competition. Their Back River Gin uses Maine’s blueberries as one of the botanicals (they’re careful to mention that it’s not a blueberry-flavored gin, though they do make a cranberry-flavored gin using Maine cranberries).

Sweetgrass has tasting rooms in Portland and Kennebunk, but their winery in rural Union may offer the most picturesque views with which to sample the Bodines’ unique and hyper-local offerings. 

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Fruit Drinks Alcohol Winery Wine

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lukefater

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Ian Engweiler, colleencourtney c93b920e

  • Ian Engweiler
  • colleencourtney c93b920e

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July 19, 2022

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Sweetgrass Winery
347 Carroll Road
Union, Maine, 04862
United States
44.252056, -69.329911
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Photo of Union

Union

Maine

Places 2

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Photo of Union

Union

Maine

Places 2

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