World class wine where you least expect it.

The Boston Globe 

 by Stephen Meuse April 24, 2011

  Driving the back roads of Maine's mid coast last week brought us to Harpswell, population 5300, one of Casco Bay's sweet spots. We saw charming white churches and quite a few homes with lobster traps stacked in the yard. Here and there a bend in the road yielded a magnificent view of the bay and the many tiny, wooded islands that make the area so picturesque. But we were surprised when one such turn brought us to the door of The Black Sheep Wine Shop.

 Though small in size, there's a full-scale wine sensibility going on here. John and Jen VerPlanck have stocked their garage-sized shop with a hand-picked collection of Old and New World labels that would shame any number of urban retail outlets we could mention.

  The welcoming little building used to be devoted to selling Jen's handmade chocolates, before the couple decided to shift the focus to wine. Nearly every bottle on the chock-a-block full shelves here bears a handwritten tag providing some worthwhile information about the wine inside. It's the kind of thoughtful touch that gives a shop personality - and personality is something The Black Sheep and its proprietors have plenty of.

  The afternoon we stopped by John was on his way to lead a wine tasting at Cook's Lobster House   on nearby Bailey Island. We were headed elsewhere, alas, or would have been happy to tag along.

  We did pick up a bottle of old vine Jura chardonnay from Maison Jean Rijkaert, though, from the VerPlancks to sip later that night in the parlor of our B&B -- and did it hit the spot!