Maine’s Coolest Wine Bars
The cornflower blue facade of Table Bar stands out against the brick rowhouses of Gardiner’s downtown. These tightly packed 1800s buildings create one of the most charming—if compact—historic main streets. The gentle sound of contemporary jazz drifts faintly through the door, and upon entry, a soft hiss reveals the music’s source: an LP spinning atop the bar.
One wall functions as a bottle shop, its wooden shelves lined with a remarkable breadth of natural wines, alongside a selection of Table Bar merchandise. Simple, elegant, hip.
Across the narrow space, the bar displays bottles being poured that evening: Sur la Plage, an organic white wine made with aromatic Colombard grapes in France’s Languedoc region, and Christina Rosé, an Austrian rosé made with Zweigelt grapes and minimal skin contact. Then there’s Colloquy from WillowsAwake Winery in Leeds, Maine—a deep garnet, fruit-forward red produced from Petite Pearl grapes, a cold-hardy varietal bred for short growing seasons and harsh winters like Maine’s. Behind the bar, a vintage Coca-Cola sign lists the rest of the menu—cold brews, spritzes, Miller Lo Life (High Life), amaros and more—a slightly tongue-in-cheek touch befitting the millennial wine-bar genre.
Also covering the walls behind and beside the bar is a staggering collection of fan-themed artwork. (Yes, as in standard Lasko-style fans.) The sheer volume of work devoted to such a singular subject is genuinely impressive, rendered in a loose, playful style that wouldn’t feel out of place in either a modern art museum or a middle school art classroom. The pieces were created through a local nonprofit arts program, and they suit the space perfectly: colorful, interesting and entirely unpretentious.
Around 5 p.m., a trickle of patrons filters in after work, pulling up bar stools or settling into quiet corners by candlelight. The menu is short without feeling limited: bread and butter, oysters (on the half shell or roasted), balsamic-tossed greens, black trumpet mushroom risotto and meatballs. Every dish stands out. The bread from Night Moves bakery in South Portland is excellent for good reason; the meatballs are tender, garlicky and deeply satisfying; even the balsamic dressing is memorable. The butter, too, is noteworthy. That’s how a small menu ought to be: small because every detail receives attention.
If the ambiance, design aesthetic and wine selection would fit seamlessly into any stylish neighborhood in America, the conversations at the bar certainly wouldn’t. Two bearded locals discuss highlights from the recently finished ice-fishing season. One pulls out photos of a massive four-and-a-half-pound brook trout. “Just look at the colors on this squaretail! Those bright white fin tips—a stunning fish.” Yep, this wine bar is definitely in Maine.
The record gets flipped, then another goes on. Wine is poured. Conversations flow and merge. Candlelight flickers. The record keeps spinning. By the time the needle drops on the third vinyl, the wine bar has become something else entirely: a neighborhood living room where strangers exchange numbers and make plans. There’s fish to be caught next January.
More Wine Bars in Maine
Opened in the spring of 2025 by Food & Wine magazine-lauded sommelier David Speer and his wife Kristin Amundson-Speer, who traded their Portland, Oregon, champagne bar for a 150-year-old building on a quiet Belfast side street. The wine list is personal and considered, the snacks lean delightfully savory and salty, and the room feels like it was made for settling into.
Named for the 1969 Miles Davis record, this candlelit wine bar on Water Street is worth the trip to Wiscasset. Owners Chandler Sowden and Zack Goodwin keep selections deliberately low and quality high, with a rotating short list of wines by the glass and a small menu of seasonal plates built around locally sourced ingredients. There’s a temperature-controlled wine shop next door for bottles to take home.
When Orenda and Peter Hale opened this natural wine shop on Portland’s Washington Avenue in 2015, Maine’s natural wine scene was, by most accounts, effectively nonexistent—what they built since has become the beating heart of it. Pull up a stool, tell them what you’re in the mood for, and let the staff do the rest.
A novel concept for Maine—30 rotating wines available by self-pour in two, four or six-ounce pours—this Portland wine bar lets you chart your own course through a global selection at your own pace. The name comes from the Hindi word for grape, a nod to co-founder Sangeeta Nasiff’s heritage, and the Fore Street space is as welcoming as the concept.
Less than an hour north of Portland in Brunswick’s compact downtown, Vessel & Vine pulls off the rare trick of being a great wine shop, a place to linger over a glass and the perfect stop for picnic provisions all at once. Housed in a former church, it’s the kind of place that stocks vermouths and Campari alongside the wine, which tells you something about the spirit of the operation.
This story was written and photographed by Cam Held, co-editor of Maine the Way, whose work documents the people, places and details that define life in Maine.