I spent a fair amount of time getting around in New England, before I gained legal drinking age, and shipped out. Naturally, I did not spend any time visiting wineries. Skiing at North Conway, working at summer camp in Brewster MA out on the Cape, seeing my sister when she was working in Maine and traveling up to PEI (Prince Edward Island) for some fishing, were the highlights of my youth.

I get back to New England every now and then. After doing the research for this article, I see I have six more reasons to get back there, as there are six wineries in New England - not counting the four Rhode Island wineries I reviewed earlier.

Leave Boston and drive north on 95 to Bangor and look for signs for 395 to Holden. You want to drive past Holden looking for 1A to Ellsworth and then on to Route 1. Route 1 travels through Gouldsboro.

In Gouldsboro you will find the Bartlett Maine Estate Winery. They are down east, not too far to the Canadian border. You can check out Bartlett Maine Estate Winery for a look at the place. It is too bad that they do not have a shipping store, since the blue laws in Maine do not allow them to ship out of state.

Yes they make blueberry wine but also make so much more. Their lineup starts with Aperitifs. There are four to choose from: Apple Blush, Blueberry Semi-dry, Pear Semi-dry and Peach Semi-dry.

The five white wines are Pear Winemakers Reserve, Pear French Oak dry, Pear Dry, Orchard White, Coastal White, Mead Dry.

The blueberry wines fall into the red category and there are four reds to choose from: Blueberry Winemakers Reserve, Blueberry Oak Dry, Blueberry Dry, Coastal Red.

The winery also has five desert wines: Blueberry Sweet, Raspberry Sweet, Loganberry Sweet, Blackberry Sweet, Mead Sweet.

Their signature wine would be the Blueberry Winemakers Reserve. It is made with 100% blueberries, oak aged and has a great fragrance.

Rest up for a bit and then drive south west and inland to NH over to the NH VT border to Lebanon NH. Lebanon sits south of Hanover, home of Dartmouth College and north of Meriden, home of Kimball Union Academy.

Here in Lebanon you will find Farnum Hill Cider . Check out the Farnum Hill Summer Cider that is sparkling dry and golden and great with seafood dishes or pasta.

We will leave there and drive south to central MA to Bolton, MA. Bolton is home to Nashoba Valley Winery . They are currently only shipping within the state of MA, but this may be changing. They suggest that you check their web site frequently to get an updated list of states they are shipping to.

Much like the Bartlett Maine Estate Winery, they have fruit wine, mead and semi-sweets to choose from. As a matter of fact, they have over 20 varieties of wines, a variety of hand crafted beers and even distilled spirits. And like Farnum Hill, they have a sparkling apple wine.

Head for Cape Cod and drive out to North Truro and you'll find Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod . From the Sagamore Bridge take Rt. 6 East toward Provincetown. Turn left at Rt. 6A Exit in North Truro. The winery entrance is 2/10 mile on the right.

The winery offers three reds, three whites including a nice 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and a blush.

Truro Vineyards will ship to the following states: AK, CA, CO, CT, DC, MA, MN, MO MT, NC, NH, NV, NY, OH, OR, RI, and VT. Check the web site for FL.

On the way to the last destination, you will be driving close to Buzzards Bay Brewing. If you like microbrew beer, you'll need to stop here for a sample. You may have heard about the 2007 Barrel Aged Cranberry Lambic. Sorry they have sold out.

The last destination is Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery . Worth noting about Westport is they have six sparkling wines going all the way back to the 1992 Cuvee Maximilian. This is a blend of Estate Grown Chardonnay and Estate Grown Pinot Noir. Please note that they have an Unoaked Chardonnay. The unoaked Chardonnay is also known as naked Chardonnay.

Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery has an online store and ships wine into the following states: AK, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, IA, IL, KY, MA, ME, MN, MO, MT, NH, NM, NV, OH, OR, RI, VA, WI, WV

One web site you might want to bookmark in your favorites is the Coastal Wine Trail . This web site will keep you abreast of the happenings for wineries in Cape Cod, southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?

Oh - have you signed up for our Wine Newsletter? My last newsletter went out over the weekend.

You can sign up at the bottom of this article. Your e-mail address is safe with us as we never send SPAM and we do not sell your e-mail address to others.

Jim Fortune - the Bella Online Wine Guy