Old World Depth in a Maine Harbor Town
Portland · Portland · Wine Bar
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 9, 2026
RagingWine reviewed The Old Vines Wine Bar’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
The list lands on the table and you immediately know someone here gives a damn. Two hundred labels, a temperature-controlled wine room visible from the dining area, and proper stems that signal this place isn't messing around. This is the kind of European-style wine bar that most cities twice Portland's size don't have.
The focus is family-run vineyards, which keeps the list from feeling like a corporate buy sheet — you'll find Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne sitting alongside Produttori Barbaresco, and both feel at home here. Old World depth is the clear strength: Burgundy, Rhône, and Piedmont are well-represented with serious producers. Gaja Barbaresco showing up on a list in Portland, Maine is either a flex or a love letter to the region — either way, we're not complaining. The only gap is New World coverage, which feels more like a deliberate editorial choice than an oversight.
Twenty-five by-the-glass options is generous, especially for a 200-label list — that's not just the house Pinot and a token Cab. The glass price range of $9 to $20 means you can explore without committing to a full bottle, which is exactly how a wine bar should work. We'd love more transparency on rotation frequency, but the range suggests someone is actively curating this, not just defaulting to whatever the distributor pushed.
Produttori Barbaresco 2021 — $58
At roughly 38% over retail, this is one of the most fairly priced bottles on the list — and Produttori is the textbook Barbaresco overachiever, a co-op that consistently punches at price points twice its own. Fifty-eight dollars for this kind of Nebbiolo in a restaurant setting is genuinely rare.
Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2020
Most tables at a wine bar see Vieux Télégraphe and assume it's reserved for special occasions — it's not. At $72 with markup that's among the fairest on the list, this is a bottle that drinks like a $120 decision and makes the whole table look smart. The 2020 vintage in the southern Rhône was excellent, and this producer never mails it in.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Vosne-Romanée 2018
At $450, the 41% markup isn't outrageous by fine dining standards, but this is still a bottle where retail access and auction markets make restaurant pricing feel painful. Unless someone else is paying, the DRC is a tough sell when the Bonneau Corton sitting nearby gives you 80% of the thrill at less than half the price.
Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne 2019 + Foie gras terrine
Corton-Charlemagne has the structure and richness to hold its own against foie gras without getting steamrolled — the wine's mineral backbone and restrained oak cut through the fat just enough to keep each bite feeling fresh. It's a counterintuitive move that works, and at $185 it's the kind of splurge that actually makes sense.
Tuesday — Half-price on select bottles priced under $50
The Bottom Line
The Old Vines Wine Bar is the real thing — a serious, well-maintained list with fair pricing, proper glassware, and staff who clearly know what's in the cellar. If you're driving through Portland, Maine and care about wine, this is the stop.
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