DETAILS: Ocotillo [oh-koh-tee-yo], a new brunch spot coming to you from the amazing team at Terlingua, in Portland's West End neighborhood, is welcoming Maine’s Oyster River Winegrowers for a one-time Brunch and Bubbles event during Portland Wine Week! Chef Al Zoni will prepare Mexican and Southwestern Springtime-inspired flavors that will pair perfectly with the distinct, natural, terroir-driven wines made by the acclaimed Oyster River Winegrowers team in midcoast Maine!
Wines will be offered by the glass alongside a delicious a la carte menu. Winemaker Brian Smith will be present to talk with guests about the winemaking process and story of Oyster River. Oyster River is a small farm winery in Warren, Maine. Since 2007, Oyster River has been making lively wines and ciders in a low-intervention style from both its own fruit, and fruit sourced from other growers in the Northeast. The vineyards and orchards are managed organically, and in the summer months the barn opens as a popular gathering spot for adventurous wine drinkers from near and far.
LINKS: Ocotillo, Oyster River Winegrowers
WINES:
Maine-Grown:
2021 Oyster River “Chaos” White Sparkling Wine: $12 2.5oz. // $24 5oz. // $60 BTL
A 100-percent homegrown, traditional-method sparkling wine (aka Champagne) made from organically managed La Crescent and Vidal Blanc vineyards. The wine is fermented with only the wild yeasts naturally occurring on the grape skins, aged on the lees in bottle, then riddled and hand-disorged with no sulfur added and no sugar dosage. This is coastal Maine's un-manipulated terroir, where brutality and tension produce dramatic beauty. Really fine bubbles and acidity accompany a deeply savory yeastiness.
2023 Oyster River “Carbonic Nation” Red: $9 2.5oz. // $18 5oz. // $45 BTL
A carbonic fermentation of 100-percent Maine fruit makes for a deep, fruity red with a little prickle of residual carbon dioxide on the pallet. No sulfites added and unfiltered. Serve at cool cellar temp.
Wildman Dry Cider 750ml: $12 // $35 BTL
Produced from apples gathered from wild seedling trees and old unmaintained trees of unknown varieties. Wild yeast fermented, unfiltered, bottle conditioned, no sulfites added.
North Fork, Long Island, New York Grown:
2023 Oyster River “Morphos Pet Nat White” $12 // $35 BTL
Bottled during the end of active fermentation, this wine continues to ferment in the bottle leaving it dry, cloudy, yeasty, and full of life, with a natural effervescence. Released just after bottling, it is the fresh wine of the harvest. Morphos is fresh and fruity after bottling, but ages gracefully into more yeasty, toasty aromas. Made from a blend of Cayuga and Seval grapes from Finger Lakes region, New York.
2022 Oyster River “Morphos Pet Nat Rosé” $12 // $35 BTL
A pétillant naturel style wine made from 100-percent Merlot from the North Fork of Long Island. The wine is wild fermented in the barn with no added sulfur and bottled toward the end of active fermentation. It continues to ferment in the bottle and is never filtered, creating a fizzy, yeasty and refreshing living rosé.
BIOS:
Head Chef Al Zoni has a passion and talent in using foraged and farmed seasonally-driven local ingredients matched with Ocotillo’s Mexican and Southwestern driven influences on the menu.
Brian Smith is the winemaker at Oyster River Winegrowers. He has a traditional education in winemaking from Fresno State University, and uses that knowledge base to make distinct wines in ways that may have been common in pre-industrial times. He believes his role in the winemaking process to be more nature's assistant than winemaker. Most of our fermentations start spontaneously with wild yeasts that occur on the fruit and in the cellar, and play out over the course of several months. We add nothing and take nothing away from the natural chemistry of the fruit. All of Oyster River’s ciders and our sparkling wines are bottled without the addition of sulfites and are not filtered. Still wines are minimally sulfited where necessary. The farm supplies the fruit for Chaos, a homegrown traditional method sparkling wine, Carbonic Nation, and a good portion of its cider. Oyster River’s other wines are made with fruit purchased from close contacts in the Northeast.
The vineyards consist of the following varieties: LaCrescent, Vidal Blanc, L’Acadie Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Marquette, Sabrevois, and St. Croix. We have a couple acres of orchards, consisting of Cider-specific varieties as well as wild “seedling” apples on the farm. Our vineyards and orchards are managed organically.