I sure do drink my fair share of white wines! In Florida you don’t have many alternatives, especially when the sun beats down on you. It makes you want to head to the coast, be on the water and cool off. Beer works, but there's nothing I would rather have than a nice cold white wine with a plate of peel-n-eat shrimp, fresh grouper, snapper, mahi-mahi, oysters, clams, mussels….the list is long! Soulfood from the Sea.

 Know what these foods all have in common? Lemon! Big oaky chardonnays just don’t cut it here, but any white wine that has the racy acidity of a fresh lemon work wonders. The wine actually becomes the lemon you should be squeezing on the dish. It makes me hungry just thinking about it!

I call these wines the ‘Alpine whites,’ simply because most of the white wines made in N. Italy, S. Eastern France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany all fit into a particular flavor/style profile (fresh, clean unoaked wines with pure aromas and refreshing acidity) that pairs wonderfully with our Florida cuisine. So much so, it's sometimes hard to imagine why big, oaky chardonnay is so popular. Dry Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Grigio, and the less-known whites like Savoie, Gavi, Arneis or Erbaluce all fit into what I call the Alpine white style, since all are produced pretty much in view of the majestic Alps! These, my friends, are Florida wines!

Shayne Hebert, Central Florida Wine Supervisor