Old Vines Wine Bar Kennebunkport, Maine

 Old Vines Wine Bar is located in the lower village of Kennebunk. It is about three-quarters of a mile from the Captain Jefferd’s Inn past Dock Square and over the causeway on Route 35 which is called Port Road at this point. You certainly can walk the distance if you prefer we drove however and there is a small parking lot in back and a public parking lot nearby.

Welcome to Old Vines

As you walk up to the front of the wine bar you will notice two things, first, there is a great fire pit and chairs if you want to enjoy the outdoors and also you will notice that there is a wheelchair ramp which was very nice to see.

Fire pit

The building that houses the wine bar is a former barn but you would never guess that as you enter the very minimalist interior. On one wall there are panels from wine crates displaying their logos and names and the opposite wall holds the bar. The tables are wooden and the chairs and stools are metal. There is a banquette that runs along the wall beneath the wine crate display.

They celebrated their seventh anniversary in May 2016 and owner Mike Farrell was greeting guests when we arrived. As soon as we walked in the door we were welcomed and told to sit wherever we wanted to. We chose to sit at a table along the banquette.

They have a very fine selection of wine as well as cocktails and specialty beers. My husband chose to have a Pils Urquell which comes from the Czech Republic and I had a seltzer with lime. The menu offers snacks, salads, small plates and tapas. Everything looked so good that it was hard to choose.

Pita and tapenade

We decided to start with a snack of pita chips and tapenade. The chips are also offered with tzatziki or hummus. It was a very good choice. The pita was grilled and lightly salted and the tapenade included pimento. It was a nice sized portion, enough for us to share.

Melt in your mouth short ribs

I decided to try the burrata which is a handmade mozzarella ball with a balsamic, orange and honey drizzle, over arugula with toasted hazelnuts. My husband chose the short ribs served over polenta. Where to begin, let me just say that neither one of us left a morsel on our plate. The polenta was creamy and the short ribs just fell apart and melted in your mouth. The mozzarella was perfection and the honey orange balsamic was the perfect sauce, a little sweet and a little savory.

Service was amazing. We never felt neglected or had to wait overly long. Our entire meal was ordered, cooked and eaten in under 50 minutes. I am not implying that anything was rushed, it wasn’t, it was just perfect.

They do offer dessert and this day it was three truffles. One of them was made with alcohol in it so we opted not to have it since it might have caused an issue for me. We watched some salads being delivered to a guest nearby and they were huge and looked so good we certainly wished we had larger appetites.

This is a very lively place with a crowd that was on the younger side but there were guests of all ages including a family. If you are looking for a place to enjoy a great glass of wine, cocktail or even a mocktail, I highly recommend Old Vines Wine Bar and plan to dine there as well, the food is top notch and not over-priced considering what a touristy area this is. They close during the colder month but reopen in April.

•