Okrney and wine? I'll wait until you finish chuckling…read more Now that we've gotten that out of the way, Orkney Wine Company doesn't actually make wine, per se. That is, their "wines" are not made from "grapes." Because "grapes" don't stand a snowball's chance of growing in the Orkney terroir, lovely as it is. Rather, Orkney wine is made from native plants like elderberry, blackcurrant, bramble, cranberries, wild sloe, rhubarb, gooseberries and root ginger. I'll wait until you finish chuckling. Because they're really not as bad as they sound. I was afraid all the wines we sampled would be cloyingly sweet and lack any sort of depth when we pulled in to parking lot, lured by the promise of a "wine tasting." We were certainly treated to possibly the most *unique* tasting I've had the privilege of undertaking. We were told, basically, we could sample whatever we wanted, we just had to ask; the Wine Company doesn't do organized tastings exactly. So husband and I sampled away, trying the Orkney White (interesting, dry and herbaceous) and the Orkney Red (dry and jammy) blends; the Gooseberry (floral nose, smooth finish); and the Taak Hid Sloe (the sweetest we sampled). We ended up purchasing a bottle of the Gooseberry, just for the novelty of it. The "wines" themselves were fine. But what set Orkney Wine Company apart, for me, was the boutique attached, stocked entirely with Orkney merch: Westray pottery; sheepskins, hats, scarves and cushions made from North Ronaldsay wool; Orkney cheeses and game charcuterie; jewelry from local artisans. Everything is superb quality, making Orkney Wine Company the ideal place to pick up a one-of-a-kind souvenir. All five of us did.