By Brittney Coutts
With Florida summer fast approaching, let’s be real – summer is already here in Florida. It’s well above 90 degrees today. I really wish instead of sitting at my desk waiting on my next rep to walk through the door, I want to be on the beach, lathered in SPF 50 sunscreen, eating some watermelon, and sipping on a lightly bubbly rose out of my discrete McDonald’s cup so I don’t have to worry about another ticket like that one time in college. So maybe the beach is a tricky place to enjoy your favorite rosé or lager of choice, but by your pool is a worry free and definitely less problematic place to enjoy your favorite rosé or lager of choice.
So let’s talk about the wines that leave me daydreaming here at my desk.
Florida summer and cookouts go hand in hand with rosé. It doesn’t matter where it’s from, rosé is just darn good in the Florida heat. One of my favorite rosés right now is Delinquente Rosato. It’s made from Nero D’Avola which is a grape that is indigenous to Italy, but Delinquente is an Australian producer. The wine is as natural as they come, meaning there is little winemaker intervention, and their pesticides and production is all naturally based. It’s a fuller bodied rosé, making it perfect for that grilled chicken breast or even your burger. $20.99/Bottle @ The Wine Barn
Another rosé keeping me on my toes is the crisp freshness of Les Lauzeraies Tavel Rosé, it’s a darker color rosé and a nose full of fully ripe strawberries, raspberries. It’s super fresh and has a nice balanced acidity with a slight touch of salinity. They give this wine a longer maceration and it’s a blend of free run juice and pressing juice to hold structural integrity. According to my rep and their website, this one is made from Black Grenache (50%, softness and high aromatic potential) – Mourvèdre, old Carignan and Syrah (17%, color, spicy aromas and fullness) – Clairette (6%, floral aromas) – Picpoul and Bourboulenc (7%, flower aromas and liveliness) – Cinsault (20%, delicacy). $15.99 @ The Wine Barn
We’ll step out of rosé for a second and tap into some awesome white wines. First up is Bosman Family Vineyards Chenin Blanc Pet Nat. Bosman Family is located in South Africa. Honestly I’m a little obsessed with natural wines, so a basically naturally occurring sparkling wine is right up my alley. Bosman Family has a female winemaker, and is focused on organics. Organic wine that tastes good is hard to come by, so this one is what I like to call a unicorn wine. It’s got pear, light hints of vanilla, and some green tropical fruit. It’s crisp and fresh. $32/bottle @ The Wine Barn
Okay, back to rosé! My last recommendation is going to be sparkling. To continue with the theme of organics, Domaine Bousquet which is owned by an extremely nice gentleman named Labid and his wife Anne. Bousquet has a very high tone fruit forward nose, lots of clean crisp strawberry, and a very fresh fine bubble to it. The Bousquet vineyard is an all organic vineyard in Argentina. This specific sparkling rosé is made using traditional champagne grapes, which are pinot noir and chardonnay. In order to achieve the light pink rosey color, they expose the pressed juice to the skins of the pinot noir. This wine is also vegan friendly, which means the method of filtration is most likely diatomaceous earth. This wine comes in at $21.99 @ The Wine Barn
Hopefully this helped point you in the right direction of a great bottle of wine to enjoy. I know for a fact I’ll be drinking some if not all of these bottles mentioned above this summer. As I mentioned above the place you can find all these bottles and more is The Wine Barn in Winter Park. They just added fresh pastas and as always the wood fired pizzas. They carry 400+ labels so I’m sure you will be able to find anything that you are looking for.
ABOUT BRITTNEY COUTTS
Brittney Coutts was born and raised in Orlando. From her first job in the restaurant industry, she knew there was something magical about the pairings of food and wine that brought joy to the staff and patrons alike.
At the tender age of 18, she began independent study of wine, and the sciences behind it. While serving at a restaurant, and not being able to taste the wine there. She did what any teenager would do, and asked her friends older sibling to purchase the wine she was looking for. While her friends were in it for the free booze, she was in it for the study. At the age of 22 she received her WSET Level 1 and at age 23 she received WSET Level 2 with Merit.
As of now, Brittney is focusing on educating the public on wine, as well as her brand new online wine retail store called Natty Daddy Wine. Her selection focuses on wine that focuses on sustainable and transparent winemaking methods, and bringing attention to why these wines are important.
Since working for a distributor, a few restaurants, and a retail entity, Brittney has worked every angle aside from production of wine. She brings a fresh approach to the education and enjoyment of some of the world’s lesser known wine regions. She brings her pairing skills from her time working in a restaurant kitchen and uses that to help make some of the most seamlessly paired wine dinners.
When she’s not talking about wine, she can be found at the beach with her fiancé and her daughter soaking up the Florida sun.
