Sweetgrass Winery & Distillery Old Port Tasting Room and Shop — Attraction in Portland

Planned this stop for our family visit to Portland. The tasting room is cute, very small, and the price is unbeatable ($5 for 4 tastings). The wines I tried were pretty good, though all the offerings are very niche (wines all infused with various fruits; no classics such as Chardonnay or a plain Cabernet Sauvignon, etc). Was pretty disappointed with the interaction, or rather lack thereof, with the staff. She just stood there silently between tastings, not offering any information about the wines except a basic description while physically pouring them. I even asked a couple questions to stimulate the conversation but was met with minimal response. It made the tasting awkward, especially considering we were the only ones there at the time. So much so that we did the tasting, grabbed a bottle of our favorite, and left, within about 15 minutes. Maybe just an off day for her? Definitely not what I would expect from a wine tasting, especially such a...

We stumbled upon this small tasting room in Portland’s old port district. The tasting fee was inexpensive (about $5 if I recall) and the pours were generous. The lady doing the pouring was knowledgeable and very friendly.

The wines we tried were delicious and quite reasonable—my favorite was the Blueberry Sangria. However, the standout for me was the Back River Gin. a small-batch gin. Tasted neat, it has an amazing silky mouth feel and the 43% alcohol content is hidden by a clean, smooth rush of juniper and volatiles. My wife isn’t a spirits drinker but she enjoyed it and remarked on how smooth and tasty it was. With a little splash of tonic water, I was hooked.

We bought a bottle of Blueberry Sangria which we drank along the rest of our travels, but the gin came home. I keep wondering if I’m going to share it with my gin-drinking buddies, but I have to try a few more times to...

Everything tasted a bit juicy, but for a sampling of 5 at $10 I really didn’t have too much to complain, expect for the fact that they served the gin with “plain” tonic water from a plastic bottle that’s almost done.

Wanted to support local business, so also got a bottle to go, which is when the nightmare began. The cork was too poorly manufactured it broke midway when I tried to open it. The wine was filled with bits of the cork because of that, which was not very fun to drink. Then when l looked at the bottom piece remained in the bottle, it somehow seems grayish and moldy. Not a wine expert but I’ve never seen this and didn’t want to risk it. Ended up dumping the...