TN: 2010 Bartlett Blueberry Winemaker's Reserve

  • 2010 Bartlett Blueberry Winemaker’s Reserve - USA, Maine (9/19/2018)
    This is ready to go with 30 minutes in the decanter. An almost exotic nose rolls out of the glass. It smells larger than life as notes of charred meats, clove, raspberry, with floral notes, and herbs lingering in the background. There is a hint of something that reminds me of an oil stained garage floor that is enveloped by a lovely floral lift. On the palate this is smoother than other vintages I’ve had in the past and seems to spread out on the palate like when pressing chocolate to the roof of your mouth. Notes of blackberry, raspberry, and plum lead into an acid-driven mid palate explosion of kumquat/orange rind citrus and spice that leads into a long finish that leans back toward the red-fruit spectrum. Outstanding!!! This has really come together in the past two years since I last tasted it.
  • 2010 Bartlett Blueberry Winemaker’s Reserve - USA, Maine (9/30/2016)
    A new release of this wine hit the shelves. I can’t think of many wines that I get as excited to taste on release as I do with this. The nose if full of spice, some well integrated oak is present, but just below other notes of dried meats, black berries, kumquat, and clove. On the palate the wine transitions from vibrant black & blue fruits into a more earth-driven profile as notes of mushroom and wet stone linger on the finish. Another outstanding wine…

Posted from CellarTracker

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Kirk, I’m about ready to pull the trigger on these, but a I read your notes, I get the sense that if served blind, you wouldn’t know that these are made from blueberries. Do I have that right?

I have already reached out to a good friend of mine who lives in Maine and asked him to try to score me a bottle or two of this stuff. Consider me super-intrigued. I believe it not to be true until the juice has hit my lips…but then other WBers with solid palates and crazy wine knowledge second Kirk’s take and I’ve got to at least acknowledge the possibility that it might be so…

What does this wine cost? How is the QPR?

I called.

They have a number of wines available. Blueberry dry and semi dry are $21. Oak dry is $25. 2010 winemaker reserve is $50.

They have some sweet and non-blueberry too.

I opened a bottle of their non vintage blueberry wine a year or two ago. It was at least thirty years old. What I remember when I tried it 30 some odd years ago and that was confirmed with this last bottle, was that it is not sweet by any means, and I don’t think you would be able to guess that it was made with blueberries. The 30 year old one was definitely drinkable – though more of a novelty than anything more.

They used to also have a honey wine that was really amazing. I may go on to their website and see if they still produce that. I would definitely buy more of that. And given the prices quoted above, I would suggest that those of you who are curious should definitely try it. It is probably as good if not better than many wines at the same price point.

Several years ago, I went to an offline in Boston that Ron Kramer put together and someone brought it as a mystery bottle. We all had positive things to say about it and we were all clueless that it was not grape wine. The group were experienced Berserkers with decent to great palates. The “black fruits” were indeed from real blueberries. Just another reminder that blind tastings can be humbling. neener

Yes, absolutely…if served these blind you would not know they are Blueberry wines. I’ve blinded many Somms on this and think that these are as serious as any other wine in this price range…with a much longer ability to age than many would expect. These age at a glacial pace…

So that bottle was just his NV Blueberry. A deal at $24…there is a huge step up in the reserves in my thought.

I’ve seen many people blind taste the NV Blueberry, Reserve Blueberry, and the Reserve Pear, several of them very astute tasters and mostly people who taste blind regularly, and none have ever guessed that the wines weren’t made from grapes. I always tell them “this could be anything” when pouring. In their youth, to me, the blueberry wines are very fruitful, sort of New World feeling but without much alcohol (I think they tend to be around 11.5% ABV). As they age, they develop a lot of the same complexity and aromas that wines from grapes develop.

It sounds like a great time for me to try the 2010!

Absolutely!! I think initially I liked the 2009 better, and it may be longer lived than the 2010…but it’s splitting hairs at this point. I need to buy another 5 -11 bottles of the 2010 to round out to 6-12 minimum. I have a bunch of wines I want to open when you’re here…this may be like that time in Portland when you Becky & I opened 17 bottles. I hope you two can get here a little early (4pm-ish).

Since picking up my last few cases I’ve been drinking the 2010 like it has “the cure” in it. I need to slow down as I get closer & closer to only having 2 cases.

It will be so good with a lot more age.

Is it possible to get this wine without flying to Maine? Not that I’m against that :slight_smile:

You could also drive to Maine! neener


In all reality, I would call the winery & leave your phone number on the answering machine. My understanding is this will either be the last summer, or last summer was their last. I’m not sure…but worth the effort to get these. I put my money where my mouth is…I spent 1/3 of my annual wine budget here buying 5 cases, 3 magnums, & the only 3L I own. The rest went to Patricia Green, Goodfellow, Champagne, Burgundy, Bojo, & wines from 2019.

Can you leave my phone number as well?

Or maybe Scott and I can go in on a case. We had 3 acres of blueberries on the farm that I grew up on, and the comments on this thread definitely have me really intrigued.

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Left them a message and will follow up tomorrow yeah I have been interested in these since you were posting about these on the old WL board, thanks Kirk. Marcus if I can get a case I will be shipping to you instead of the other way around a nice change of pace [wow.gif]

I can vouch for these. I opened a NV blueberry wine a few years ago. It was probably 30 or more years old. It was still intriguing and palatable. Personally I also used to love their mead.

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Years before I made wine a career, I was on a weekend on the Oregon coast and stopped in a little tasting room that was offering fruit wines. A couple were pretty decent. I knew what good wine was supposed to taste like and these wines were OK.