Late Summer Sippers
Five last-hurrah drinks before the season ends
Written by Jen Laskey
Summer may be starting to feel like it’s already in the rearview mirror. But with one more glorious month to go and plenty of beach days on the horizon, Nantucket’s bartenders and purveyors have plenty of timely ideas for delicious beverages to pair with the sunniest month of the year.
From a cocktail made with locally distilled gin and fresh garden ingredients to two California wines—a Chardonnay that sips like Chablis and another that struts the line between a rosé and a chillable red—your August happy hours are sure to be covered.
NAPA VALLEY CHARDONNAY, Robert Foley Vineyards, 2023 ($116/bottle, $29/glass)
Recommended by Susan Handy, co-owner, Chanticleer
For the last 15 years, guests venturing out to The Chanticleer in Siasconset have been fortunate to find an impressive selection of wines by renowned Napa Valley producer Robert Foley on the restaurant’s extensive and thoughtfully curated wine list. Foley is best known for his commanding, elegant reds, but he’s also achieved acclaim for his Chablis-style Chardonnay—which Chanticleer co-owner Susan Handy believes is the ideal late-summer sipper. “It’s produced in California, but the style is wholly Burgundian," she said. “This is a wine you can sip from cocktail hour to the end of the evening.”
Handy describes Foley’s 2023 Napa Valley Chardonnay as a “true expression” of the Chardonnay grape, adding that it’s bright with balanced acidity and along, lingering finish. “Enjoying the magic of ’Sconset while sipping this French-style Chardonnay transports me momentarily to our sister city of Beaune, France, and its surrounding vineyards.” Handy recommends pairing Foley’s 2023 Chardonnay with The Chanticleer’s wild nettle and white asparagus soup with Maine crab, watercress and lemon coulis. She also loves to “spill” this Chardonnay onto naked Nantucket oyster
MONTE RIO CELLARS, Mission Somers, 2024 ($24/bottle)
Recommended by Edwin Claflin AND Eileen Harkness, co-owners, Mór Wine
After Current Vintage closed last year, Òran Mór Bistro chef-owner Edwin “Ned” Claflin and Commonwealth Nantucket owner Eileen Harkness took up the torch and opened Mór Wine, the island’s newest boutique wine shop at 16 Federal Street. Together, they recommended Monte Rio’s Mission Somers as “the quintessential” late-summer picnic wine. The wine is made with 100 percent Mission grapes. Originally brought to California by Spanish missionaries, Mission grape vines were among the earliest planted there. The grapes in this wine were organically grown and hand-harvested in the Somers vineyard in Lodi. Monte Rio owner-winemaker Patrick Cappiello, a former sommelier and restaurateur, transitioned into winemaking in 2018 under the mentorship of Pax Mahle, an important California winemaker known for pioneering cool-climate Syrah. According to Claflin and Harkness, “this tart and juicy red wine is delicious and can be excellent with alight chill. The vibrant color could be considered a rosé, but we just think of it as delicious.” They suggest pairing Mission Somers with a sandwich, a sunset or a summer cookout.
CUTE AS A COOLCUMBER ($16 at Cisco Brewers)
Recommended by Ryan Lanagan, bar manager, Triple Eight Distillery
Possibly the most festive venue on the island all summer long—day in and day out, come rain or shine—Cisco Brewers offers a place to relax, listen to live music, nibble on food truck fare and sip its beers, as well as wine, spirits and craft cocktails from Triple Eight Distillery, part of the Cisco family. “The truly unique thing that makes us really stand out as a cocktail program is that we craft-distill all of our spirits right here on the property," said bar manager Ryan Lanagan. “You consume the gin steps from where it’s made, and we grow the ingredients for the cocktails—there are not many other places in the world where you can do that.” Lanagan recommends Triple Eight’s Cute as a Coolcumber cocktail, which is made with the distillery’s Gale Force Gin and freshly juiced cucumbers, kale and lemons, and sweetened with a little simple syrup. “It pairs well with a raw bar or grilled fish and veggies,” he said. “It’s also refreshing and hydrating after a bike ride to the brewery.”
INGREDIENTS
• 2 ounces Triple Eight Distillery Gale Force Gin
•2 ¾ ounces Green Juice*
INSTRUCTIONS
•Fill a shaker with ice.
•Combine Gale Force Gin and Green Juice in the shaker.
•Shake and pour into a glass over ice.
•Garnish with a cucumber slice.
GREEN JUICE
•Juice about ⅓ of a medium-sized cucumber to yield 1 ½ ounces cucumber juice.
•Juice about ¼ cup chopped kale to yield ¼ ounce kale juice.
•Juice a small lemon to yield ½ ounce lemon juice.
•Combine juices with ½ ounce simple syrup.
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