Bob and Kathe Bartlett moved to Maine in the early 1980s with a business plan that Bob said could be better described as “a stupid idea.”

Since then, the couple has turned “stupid” into a successful winery that produces award-winning vintages.

Bartlett Winery in Gouldsboro, a picturesque coastal town on the Schoodic Peninsula in Hancock County, is licensed as Farm Winery No. 1, the first commercial winery licensed by the state after Prohibition ended in 1933.

Before opening their estate winery, the Bartletts had to lobby the Legislature for a change in state law to license wineries, a move opposed by the Christian Civic League. They succeeded, Bob said, opening a market for wine making in Maine.

There are now more than 30 commercial wineries operating here, most of them members of the Maine Wine Guild and listed on the Maine Wine Trail (see related story). The newest wineries are Catherine Hill Winery in Cherryfield and Two Hogs Winery in Vassalboro.

Making wine here is not an easy business, according to Holly Savage of Savage Oakes Vineyard & Winery in Union, west of Rockport, particulary for those who rely on grapes for their product instead of other fruit.

Maine is “wet. It’s cold and we have a short growing season,” she said.“Everything grapes hate we have.”

And, yet, Holly and Elmer Savage have been so successful in growing grapes that they are now the top producers of grapes used in wine making in Maine, using many of their own grapes for their award-winning wines and selling their fruit to other wineries.

Their Georges River White (which Holly said pairs nicely with lobster) is made with their own Cayuga grapes and won a silver medal in the Big E Northeast Gold Wine Competition earlier this year. The winery also won the title of Best Maine Wine for its Blueberry Pi dessert wine, made from hand-raked berries.

Success in Maine’s unforgiving soil

Savage Oakes is a family operation and, Holly said, unlike a lot of Maine’s wineries, “we do grow most of what we use for our wine.”

The couple bought the farmland from Elmer’s parents in 2000, Holly said, and put in about 1,000 vines in 2002. In 2005 they had their first harvest and started selling their wine in 2006. Now, the 3.5-acre vineyard has 2,000 vines and the couple offers guided and self-guided tours of their land.

“We’re trying to continue the farming tradition,” Holly said, by raising their own beef and pork and cultivating 15 acres of blueberries, with much of that fruit used to make wine.

“We just wanted to maximize what we could do with the farm,” she said. “Adding the grapes and making wine is tying it all together” and gives the family a way to make a living using sustainable farming practices.

The Bartletts are also keen to maintain sustainable farming practices and produce value-added agricultural products.

In addition to being the first in Maine, the Bartletts were pioneers in making dry fruit wine, which, Bob said, “was unheard of” before they started bottling their wine.

Educated as an architect, Bob designed the winery buildings on the couple’s garden-rich property, which doubles as an outdoor art gallery. He took courses in wine making in Ohio and at Cornell University as his hobby evolved into a profession.

When they moved to Maine in 1975, he said, they tried to grow grapes “but the climate was not hospitable.”

So, they started looking at properties in the Hudson River Valley region and on Long Island in New York. Nearly settled on a move to Long Island, the couple was driving back to Maine and, as they crossed the Piscataqua River Bridge, Bob says he and Kathe turned to each other and said “We can’t leave Maine.”

They committed to their “romantic, crazy idea to come here and do this,” shifting their efforts from grapes-only wine to wines made from berries and other fruits, and later created new products like apricot brandy and a dark rum distilled in new French oak barrels.

In addition to being the first winery in Maine, the Bartlett Estate Winery is the second commercial distillery, licensed after Freeport’s Cold River Vodka.

Drinking the blues

At Maine’s first Open Winery Day, on Sunday Sept. 16, Bob said they will open their library of reserve blueberry wines for a special tasting. This wine, he said, is “very complex, rich and just as good if not better than a lot of grape wines.”

The Bartlett Winery also produces semi-dries and some dessert wines, or what the couple calls “Delightful Stickies.”

Every case of wine they produce is stamped “Wines From the Heart,” Bob said, because they really feel like they are crafting something special.

At 64, Bob said processing 44,000 pounds of pears is a lot of work. But, he said, he enjoys making wine because it’s a mix of science and art.

“It’s almost like being a chef. You’re creating flavors,” he said, and relying on technology for consistency and personal creativity in making new wines.

Clem Blakney of Younity Winery calls Bob Bartlett “the godfather” of Maine wines. “He opened the door for the rest of us,” Blakney said, and continues to be an inspiration in the wine-growing community.

Blakney and his wife, Jeri, recently moved to Unity, just east of Waterville, from the West Coast so they could be closer to her family and operate one of Maine’s newest wineries.

They planted vines several years ago and in 2011 started bottling their wine, which is fermented in commercial poly tanks instead of barrels.

The couple bottles wine made from grapes, blueberries, cranberries, elderberries and rhubarb, and they built a pergola this year, providing visitors a place to sit and drink a glass of wine overlooking the hillside vineyard. On any given day, Blakney can be seen walking barefoot through his vineyard, in jeans and a T-shirt, touching and tasting the grapes.

The Younity Winery is so-named, Blakney says, because they put “you” in their wine. They also put quirky labels on their bottles, designed by artist Connie Bellet of Palermo. One, for instance, on a bottle of elderberry wine called “The Palmer Sisters,” features an image of a whimsical group of well-dressed ladies around a “tea” table as they sneak sips of something other than tea.

And on their Saint Croix bottles of dry red — the winery’s newest vintage — a saintly looking monk is pictured, cap awry.

During next month’s Open Winery Day, many Maine Wine Guild members, including those mentioned in this story, will host special wine tastings and other events. They are eager to introduce their wines to Maine consumers and to educate visitors about Maine’s growing industry. FMI go to: mainewinetrail.com.

For consumers who can’t make it that day, most Maine-made wines, meads and distilled spirits are sold in shops local to each winery and some of the wineries offer web sales through vinoshipper.com.

Union Fair tastings

Many members of the Maine Winery Guild will present wine selections at the Union Fair starting today — Aug. 19 — through Saturday, Aug. 25.

Visitors can taste up to 45 different wines in the Maine Wine Pavilion at the fair from noon to 8 p.m.

For more information about the Union Fair, go to: http://www.unionfair.org/

Open Winery Day

The Maine Winery Guild will host its first Open Winery Day across the state at the beginning of the harvest season.

On Sunday, Sept. 16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., many of the guild’s 21 members will welcome visitors to enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at how wine, mead and other fermented and distilled beverages are being made in Maine.

Visitors are invited to plan their day’s itinerary using the Maine Wine Trail map, available at mainewinetrail.com.

Highlights of Open Winery Day will include live music, art exhibits, medieval inspired festivities, tastings and food pairings.

Take the Maine Wine Trail

Bar Harbor Cellars

854 State Highway 3

Bar Harbor, ME 04609

(207) 288-3907

www.BarHarborCellars.com

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days

Bartlett Maine Estate Winery

Spirits of Maine Distillery

175 Chicken Mill Pond Road

Gouldsboro, ME 04607

(207) 546-2408

www.BartlettWinery.com

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last tasting at 4:30 p.m.), June-October; or by appointment

Blacksmiths Winery

967 Quaker Ridge Road

South Casco, ME 04077

(207) 655-3292

www.BlacksmithsWinery.com

Hours: May 28-Dec. 31, daily, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (tastings end at 5:30 p.m.); January-May 27, Friday-Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (tastings end at 4:30 p.m.)

Breakwater Vineyards

35 Ash Point Drive

Owls Head, ME 04854

(207) 594-1721

www.BreakwaterVineyards.com

Hours: Monday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., June 1-Oct. 27.

Catherine Hill Winery

661 Blackwoods Road

Cherryfield, ME 04622

(207) 546-3426

www.catherinehillwinery.com

Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cellardoor Winery

The Vineyard

367 Youngtown Road

Lincolnville, ME 04849

(207) 763-4478

www.MaineWine.com

Hours, April-December, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Villa

47 West St.

Rockport, ME 04856

(207) 236-2654

www.MaineWine.com

Hours: April-October, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Dragonfly Farm & Winery

1069 Mullen Road

Stetson, ME 04488

(207) 296-2226

www.mainewinegrower.com

Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Monday-Wednesday, by appointment; closed Sunday.

Fat Friar’s Meadery

39 Meadow Ridge Lane

Newcastle, ME 04553

(207) 563- 5382

www.thefatfriarsmead.com

Hours: Monday-Friday, 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Maine Mead Works

51 Washington Ave.

Portland, ME 04101

(207) 773-6323

www.MaineMeadWorks.com

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.

Oyster River Winegrowers

12 Oyster River Road

Thomaston, ME 04864

(207) 273-2998

www.OysterRiverWinegrowers.com

Call for information on hours.

Prospect Hill Winery

318 Orrills Hill Road

Lebanon, ME 04027

(207) 651-9335

www.Prospecthillwines.com

Hours: Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m., late May until mid-December, or by appointment.

Savage Oakes

Vineyard & Winery

174 Barrett Hill Road

Union, ME 04862

(207) 785-2828

www.SavageOakes.com

Hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sow’s Ear Winery

303 Coastal Road

Brooksville, ME 04617

(207) 326–4649

Call for information on hours, tours.

Shalom Organic

Orchard Farm & Winery

158 Eastbrook Road (Route 200)

Franklin, ME 04634

(207) 565-2312

www.ShalomOrchard.com

Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery

347 Carroll Road

Union, ME 04862

(207) 785-3024

www.SweetgrassWinery.com

Hours: Daily, 11 a.m to 5 p.m.

Two Hogs Winery

186 Mudget Hill Road

Vassalboro, Maine 04989

(207) 660-5594

Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Urban Farm Fermentory

200 Anderson St., Bay 4

Portland, ME 04101

(207) 773-8331

www.urbanfarmfermentory.com

Tours and tastings by appointment; products available in Maine stores.

Winterport Winery

Penobscot Bay Brewery

279 South Main St.

Winterport, ME 04496

(207) 223-4500

www.WinterportWinery.com

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Younity Winery & Vineyards

317 Albion Road

Unity, ME 04988

(207) 948-7777

www.YounityWinery.com

Hours: Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

* All wineries on the Maine Wine Trail have tasting rooms. Check websites for varieties of wine and other distilled spirits available along the trail