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Oenophile's Oasis -- Courtyard Wine and Cheese Bar, Rosemary Beach, Florida
Rate it! Votes (2) | Comments (0) By Cheri Sicard Posted August 6th, 2007

ROSEMARY BEACH, FLORIDA, USA -- At first meeting, no one would ever guess that Bryan (left) and Patrick (right) Krutz, two handsome twenty-something brothers originally from Jackson, Mississippi, were heavily into the wine business. But in fact, that's exactly what these two southern gentlemen do.

Bryan is the proprietor of the Courtyard Wine and Cheese Bar in the planned resort community of Rosemary Beach, Florida, an oenophile's oasis in a somewhat unexpected locale.

Brother Patrick, who now lives in Sebastopol, California, started his career as a hobbyist wine maker, producing 25 cases of wine in 2003. This year (2006) he will release over 750 cases of some very good wines.

Both brothers credit their parents' love of wine as an inspiration. "My dad always collected wine," says Patrick, "so we lucky enough to grow up learning about and drinking really good wines."

When Patrick began making wine it was as a hobby, but he liked the results and enjoyed the process so much he continued. He makes some sophisticated wines, especially for someone so young and lacking in formal training.

"I had a friend who went to UC Davis for wine making," Patrick remembers. " When I first began, I would borrow his books and study them, and for the first few years I made wine, he helped and consulted with me. It gave me the confidence I needed to go off and do it on my own."

Patrick's Santa Lucia Highland Hillside Chardonnay is done in a Burgundian style, utilizing 30% new French oak. "I wanted the fruit to drive the wine," says the young winemaker. For even more fruit, he added 8% viognier to his blend, which contributes to the wine's complexity and gives the nose a wonderful apricot essence. Patrick's Chardonnay is unrefined, unfiltered and completely delicious.

After hand picking the grapes himself for his 2004 Russian River Pinot Noir, the wine was fermented in 40% new and 60% seasoned French oak. The finished wine is complex and spicy with lots of fruit, especially berries, plums and pomegranates, with a finish that goes on for days.

The biggest challenge Patrick faced when he first started making wine was getting grape growers to sell to him. Now that he has an actual product they can taste, it has become much easier. While he still buys his grapes from vineyard owners, the goal is to someday own his own vineyards and winery. Thinking ahead he named his wine the Krutz Family Cellars, so his brother Bryan could eventually join him in the wine making business.

In the meantime, Bryan is quite happy selling wines at his Rosemary Beach wine bar and shop. Like Patrick, his family had instilled a love of fine wine in Bryan. His family had been vacationing at Rosemary Beach for years, so when the local wine shop went up for sale, Bryan quickly jumped at the opportunity.

His special shop serves residents and tourists alike, and has become an important fixture of the Rosemary Beach community. Bryan's focus is on small boutique type wineries and rare wines. In the few instances when he stocks mass produced wines, he takes care to insure that the wines in question have not lost any of their quality due to their popularity and mass production.

Each Saturday residents and visitors of Rosemary Beach can spend a leisurely afternoon tasting wines and comparing notes. In the off season, brother Patrick can often be found in the shop or behind the bar lending a helping hand.

It only takes a minute or two of talking to the Krutz brothers to discover they are passionate about wine. And after a minute or so, you forget about your preconceived notions and realize that yes, despite their young age, and despite the fact that grew up in Jackson, Mississippi (about as far from Napa Valley, let alone France, as one can get), these guys really know their stuff. And that's a lucky thing for visitors and residents of the Florida gulf coast, as they bring many fine wines (including Patrick's own) to an audience who might not otherwise get a chance to taste them.

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