FMBGN-BIZ-The Art of Pour Decisions-Wine Experiences On FMB

A lot of people say they want to “do what they love,” but Garrett Kraska actually did it, and his path is anything but typical. We hang out with the founder of The Art of Pour Decisions, a Fort Myers Beach-based wine experiences business led by a WSET Level 3 certified wine educator who knows how to make wine feel welcoming, not intimidating.

We talk about Garrett’s pivot from funeral director to wine professional, what it takes to build a small business after a major relocation, and how Fort Myers Beach became home, even with the curveball of Hurricane Ian. If you’ve ever needed that nudge to take the first real step, his story hits hard in the best way.

Then we get practical: what’s trending in the wine industry, why organic winemaking and cleaner farming matter, and how additives can show up in the way you feel after a glass. Garrett shares how he teaches Wine Tasting 101, the swirl-smell-sip basics, and why there’s no “right answer” when you describe what you taste. We also get into value hunting, hidden gem regions, and a current favorite: wines from Sicily near Mount Etna.

You’ll also hear how to find Garrett online, plus details on upcoming wine events like a wine and cheese pairing at Matanzas and future collaborations supporting Friends of Lovers Key. Subscribe for more Good Neighbor stories, share this with a friend who loves wine, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

Art of Pour Decisions
Garrett Kraska
651-2838721
Fort Myers Beach, Florida
gkthewineguy@gmail.com
pourdecisionsswfl.com

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Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbors

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to the Fort Fires Beech Good Neighbor Podcast. No shade, just sunshine, drama-free, positive five doubly. Support the local community and make Ft Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all e'd love to send some island love to State Inusrance USA, Snug Harbor, Nervous Nellie and The Alex King Group They're the good neighbors and businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener.

Meet The Art Of Pour Decisions

"Cabo" Jim 0:33

Welcome, Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbors. Today we are with Garrett Kraska from The Art of Pour Decisions. That sounds like a great song title. I don't know.

Garrett Kraska 0:44

Thanks for having me, Jim.

"Cabo" Jim 0:46

Yeah, welcome. Welcome. So for those people that aren't familiar with what you do, why don't you share a little bit about what the Art of Pour Decisions is all about?

Garrett Kraska 0:55

Well, um, I have been in the wine business for boy over 10 years now. And I've done a lot of wine education. I'm a uh W set level three certified wine expert. And my group of friends down here on the island, every time we get together, I'm in charge of the wine and I talk about the wine. And I got a uh I got a little nudge from all of them. Hey, you should you should do this for people, you should do this as a business. So what I do is I put together wine events for people, either private events in their home, where I'm actually going to be partnering very shortly with uh the Friends of Lovers Key. Um I'm gonna be working uh with Mentanzas and I do wine events where they're wine tastings, but they're more than just tasting the wine, it's it's about experiencing the wine. So I like to call them wine experiences. I tell stories, we have fun, it's very approachable. Uh I can get as geeky as people want, but a lot of times it's just about having fun and telling some stories. And that's so you are technically the wine guy, right? I am the wine guy. I am the um I'm the wine guy and owner of and founder of the Art of Pour Decisions. That's my I love

From Funeral Director To Wine Pro

Garrett Kraska 2:04

it.

"Cabo" Jim 2:04

I love it. So you mentioned you you spent uh the last couple of years, 10 years in the wine business. What were you doing previous? Oh, uh interesting story.

Garrett Kraska 2:12

I was a funeral director of all things um before that. And one day I was having a kind of a bad day at work, like like a lot of funeral directors do. And my dear wife said, you know what, Garrett, we got to figure out something that uh you can do, have fun doing it and make a little money. And at the time I was a um wine enthusiast. I wanted to call myself a wine expert, and I dove in. I I went in and started getting uh getting all my certifications that I needed. I worked for Total Wine for a little bit, and then I worked for several distributors up in Minnesota. My last two, my last big employment I worked for eataly, both in Dallas and in Las Vegas, and I talk wine classes at both those locations.

"Cabo" Jim 2:58

Wow. So you've you've got quite a bit of experience. It's not just a guy who likes wine and putting it together. You've actually, yeah, you've got some history and education behind you.

Garrett Kraska 3:08

Yeah, and I've been I've been blessed. I've been able to travel all of the world. I've been to Spain, Portugal, France, South Africa, Argentina, all uh California many times, Oregon many times. I've been to most of the major wine-producing regions in the world.

Finding Home On Fort Myers Beach

"Cabo" Jim 3:25

Interesting. So how does Fort Myers Beach kind of come into the story? How do you end up here?

Garrett Kraska 3:32

Oh, so we had some we have some dear friends uh that that live down here and moved down here before we did, and uh we would visit them quite often. And my wife and I would always look around, and every time she was here, she was looking at houses. So um we decided to buy on the island. Um we was our intention was that it was gonna be our vacation home slash retirement home, and we had we're gonna rent it out as a as a rental for a while, and that was about six months before Ian, of course. Timing. Timing, it happened to a lot lot of people down here, and we made the the decision to uh to knock our house down and build up new. Um and at the time my wife was transitioning work and she's able to work mobile. It's easy for the wine guy to uh pick up and leave. Um, we were living in Las Vegas and we decided that we were gonna move to the island. So back in September, um, we moved to the island full time. All right, now you mentioned Vegas. Are you there from there originally? No, originally I'm like a lot of people from the island. I'm from Minnesota. I uh I grew up in in the Minneapolis, uh St. Paul area. Um, my wife is from originally from Iowa, and uh yeah, we met we met in Minneapolis and then we've been moving around since then.

"Cabo" Jim 4:53

Very nice. Yeah, I'm a Midwestern boy myself, born in Wisconsin, grew up in Illinois. My my mom now probably lives close to Minneapolis on the Wisconsin border in a place called Spooner of all places.

Garrett Kraska 5:03

I know exactly where Spooner is.

"Cabo" Jim 5:05

Yep, yep. Bloody Minnesota people come over there, and you know that's right complaining a lot. That's right.

Garrett Kraska 5:10

You know, sometimes my accent comes out, but I I I hear it especially comes out when I say Minnesota. Yeah, it's Minnesota. Minnesota.

"Cabo" Jim 5:18

There we

Starting A Business Takes Nerve

"Cabo" Jim 5:19

go. So running a business by the beach, you know, sounds like a dream job, right? But then there's challenges. Number one with the hurricane and relocation, but number two with growing a business. Uh, are there certain obstacles that you've kind of overcome that you can look at now?

Garrett Kraska 5:35

Well, for for me, it was just about taking that first step. You know, I I was a little nervous. Um, I needed a lot of encouragement. You know, and I've I've only been I'm really in the infancy of this business, you know, I've had only several several events that have actually been official art reported decisions events. But right now it's just about getting my name out. Making that first step, you know, having the having the guts to go get the LLC and do all the things I needed to do to actually be an official business. That was for me, that was the challenge. And then once I've done that, I've it's really been exciting. It's everything's starting to catch, you know, I'm meeting a lot of people, and um I'm really starting to get some traction, so it's pretty exciting.

"Cabo" Jim 6:17

Well, that that's what happens when you follow your heart, follow your passion, and do what you love, right? That's right.

Garrett Kraska 6:22

I won't work a day in my life. I do what I love. I I really have a ball when I'm actually in the room with a group of people. It's it's really joyful for me.

"Cabo" Jim 6:31

Very

Giving Back Through Local Events

"Cabo" Jim 6:32

nice, very nice. Now, are there certain things I know you've been part of the community for a little while now? Are there certain things that you find yourself doing to you know help out the community or maybe give back to the community?

Garrett Kraska 6:43

Yeah, yeah. And um uh I am uh my wife is on the board of the Friends of Lovers Key. Okay, and at the last gala, I was actually an auction item. So three lucky uh winners of the auction have uh an Italian wine tasting hosted by me as their uh what they were bidding on. So so I'm I'm gonna be doing that, and then um absolutely when the opportunities arise, I'm really uh starting to get involved with what's up FMB and and and and I'm gonna be part of uh probably some of their events, and you know, whenever I get a chance, I'm definitely gonna try to pitch in. We absolutely love it here.

"Cabo" Jim 7:25

Absolutely, and it's you know, it's it's fouling your heart, foul in your passion. Um, but you mentioned you know, 10 years of experience in the wine industry, you know, I was in the beer industry for a long time. That's changed a lot. What has changed in the wine industry?

Wine Trends: Organic And Additives

"Cabo" Jim 7:39

What is what's trending? What's what's new?

Garrett Kraska 7:41

Oh well, the the big thing in the wine industry, it it it it always has peaks and valleys, right? Um for for people our age, it took us a long time just to get into wine, and then once we got in, we're all in. And then there was some struggle with um the millennials, the millennials and the Gen Zers are maybe a little more health conscious, maybe trying to avoid alcohol a little bit. Um, so the trend now is to try to put forward the stories of the of the places and how they're made, and and there's really a big push to to make things organic. And I and I think that's the best thing for the soil. You know, if you're actually a winemaker, it's better to let the soil do its thing rather than add all sorts of chemicals. So there's a lot of moving parts, and I think the the latest research is showing that it it may not be the doom and gloom that we thought it was gonna be. That just like us, it takes a while for people that are younger to get into wine, and you know, a lot of times they start with beer and spirits, and it takes a while to get into wine, and I think that's gonna happen.

"Cabo" Jim 8:47

Absolutely, and you mentioned yeah, the health aspect of it as well. Too, I'm uh I'm a tequila guy, but uh you know, the big thing in that industry now is is additive free. So, you know, not all the additives going in there to flavoring. Yep.

Garrett Kraska 9:01

And that's the trouble with the wine industry. If you get if you get really inexpensive wine in the US, there's there's 70 additives that are allowed. So you know, people ask me a lot, uh, why do I get headaches from American wine versus European wine? Well, the real reason is probably because when you're drinking less expensive wine, there's more additives. Whereas if you're in Europe, there's fewer allowed additives in the less expensive wines. So it's it's a big thing. So that's why that that is one of the big pushes is to get rid of the additives, go back to the basics, um, and you know, just try to make things clean.

"Cabo" Jim 9:41

Back back to nature. I always said, uh, you know, with flavoring. I always said, you know, you could put pizza flavor on a cardboard box and it tastes like a pizza and people would eat it. But is that really good for you? Probably not, right? No, no, not at all. So I know you're not all you know, you're working all the time. Um, but what do you enjoy doing outside of work when you get a free

Wine Tasting 101 Without Snobbery

"Cabo" Jim 10:03

moment? We live in Paris.

Garrett Kraska 10:04

Oh my goodness. I um I love uh walking the beach with my wife, watching the sunset, of course, like everyone does. Um, I love beach fishing. I uh I get out my uh folding chair and my my spikes and I go out there and surf fish a little bit. Um I love going boating with friends, you know, a lot, you know, the island stuff. We we live where you know where people vacation, so boy, every day is fantastic here.

"Cabo" Jim 10:29

Absolutely. That's yeah, we live in paradise, we love it down here. I won't ask you your favorite places because we don't want to give those away to everybody, but oh yeah, that's that's tough.

Garrett Kraska 10:38

That's like choosing between your kids, right? Yeah, there's there's a lot of favorite places.

"Cabo" Jim 10:42

It is, it's it's great, and the water's been great down here, it's been beautiful. So for somebody coming to one of your events for the first time, and I know you changed, I think you had mentioned this previously, that you do change up the different types of wine for the particular event. But is there something somebody should try? If you know, maybe they never tried wine before.

Garrett Kraska 11:02

How would they oh you know, the first thing if if someone's never tried wine, I have um in most of my events, I start out with something called the wine tasting 101. And what wine tasting 101 is, I just teach people how to uh how to uh taste wine. You know, I teach them how to swirl, how to smell, why we do those things. Um, back when I first started um in the wine business, or actually back when I first tasted wine, I was I didn't like wine. I wasn't I'm not a wine guy officially, I was a beer guy, and I got drugged kicking and screaming to my first wine tasting. Honestly, kicking and screaming. But the gentleman who was putting on the wine tasting did a really great thing for me. He actually changed my life. I'm kind of crazy, but he taught me how to properly taste a glass of wine, and I swirled and smelled and I rattled off five things that I smelled, and he goes, That's exactly right. And boom boom. And then I realized, you know, I've been smelling things all my entire life. I smelling food, I smell my beer. So that was my avenue into wine, and that's what I want to bring to people. You know, I just you know, people that are intimidated by wine, I want them to don't be intimidated. My my events are fun. You smell what you smell, you taste what you taste, there's no snobbery. And I just want to introduce people to the joy of wine that I have. And if I can do that once in a while at these events, that's that's what I want people to get out of it. So if this is the first thing you to answer your question, if there's something that someone can do or want them to try, I just want them to taste all the wine they can. If you're walking through a grocery store and they have a free tasting, taste it. What's it you you don't have to buy it, just just taste it, and that's that's how you find out what you like. So if you're asking me what my favorite wine right now is, well, I I really love the wines from Sicily around my own etna right now. Those are my those are my favorite wines, the Etna Rosa and the Ana Bianca.

"Cabo" Jim 12:55

See, and you know, again, going back to I was a beer guy, so I was a beer guy for for many years, but uh back in the day the thinking was I open that bottle of beer, I know it's in that bottle, it doesn't change with wine. It can have several variations depending on a lot of different things, right?

Garrett Kraska 13:11

Oh, yeah, oh yeah. Wine, wine is wine is fascinating. You take the same grape and grow it sometimes even across the street. One one side it's up on a hill, one side it's on the valley floor, exact same grape. It's gonna taste different, and it it doesn't seem like it would, but a roadway apart, the wine can taste different just based on where it's grown.

"Cabo" Jim 13:33

Absolutely, and then again, referencing beer because that's what I sold for a long time. We got involved in a lot of the craft beer, and that changed people's palates as well, too, and converted people into other things the wine, the liquors. You know, people are searching for a certain type of taste now rather than just opening up a bottle and drinking what's in it. They're they're they're like, I prefer this type of flavor.

Garrett Kraska 13:54

Oh, you get that super hoppy beer, it smells like flowers, right? So super floral, or you know, where you get a just a simple pilsner, it's entirely different, right? Yeah, that's for me. For me, I I love all things that are made well, yeah. And that there's been a you know, some real craft involved in it. Craft beers. I I love craft beer. I think I think some of them are fantastic.

"Cabo" Jim 14:16

Yep, and I would say, you know, spend a couple extra dollars and get some that's good for you, right?

Garrett Kraska 14:21

Actually, that's right, right. I mean, holy cow, you spend five extra dollars on a six-pack, you're gonna get a great, uh, much better, much better beer. Yeah, same thing with a bottle of wine, you know. Same thing with a bottle of wine, same thing with a bottle of wine, but price doesn't always indicate it. And that's that's one of the things I try to bring, you know. Some sometimes finding a wine from a region that that us Americans don't know about, that there isn't a huge demand for, sometimes you can find really fantastic, inexpensive wines there just because the the country of origin or the place of origin is trying to introduce them into the market. And until until we fit uh us as Americans figure it out, those wines typically are a little less expensive, still very high quality. So that's that's part of the fun of wine, is you try to track down those those hidden gems, and that's one of those things I try to bring to people, also.

Events, Contact Info, Final Motto

"Cabo" Jim 15:13

And that's why people need to come out to one of your events and and check it out and be educated and learn a little bit more. Yeah, yeah. So speaking of which I hope. Speaking of which, how would people go about contacting you to uh well?

Garrett Kraska 15:26

Um, I do have a website, and it is um the art of pour decisions pourdecisionsswfl.com and it's decisions with an s swfl.com. That's my my website. I also have a Facebook page. You just put in uh the art of poor decisions on your Facebook browser and you're gonna be able to find me. And I I have a TikTok um page also. Um and right now on my uh Facebook and other things, I'm putting out uh my wine of the week. I again, this is one of those things I was nudged into by my friends, something I did about a decade ago, and I've had my first two wine, my first official wine of the week just came out this week. So, and that's on my Facebook page.

"Cabo" Jim 16:14

Very nice, very nice. So most of your events are uh private, right? But you do have some public events. I think you got something going on in Matanzas.

Garrett Kraska 16:23

Yeah, Mattanzas at on May 20th. So next week we have uh Wednesday night wine tasting at Matanzas, and all of that information is gonna be on the Matanzas website. We're I'm we're I'm still I'm still in the process of putting things together for them. But yes, next is that next Thursday, week from next Thursday, um, May 20th at Matanzas. Um, there's gonna be a wine and cheese pairing there, and I'm gonna be the host and and introducing the wines and having some fun there. And that's gonna be and that's gonna be a monthly event uh on Wednesdays. And then the like I said, there's gonna be we're still in the works, but um, I'm in the works with uh um for uh an event in in in coordination with the friends of Lovers Key.

"Cabo" Jim 17:12

Very nice, very nice. Any last words for our listeners today?

Garrett Kraska 17:15

Well, you know, my last word, and it is on all my videos, sometimes uh the best memory, sometimes poor decisions. Let's let's start over. Sometimes poor decisions make the best memories.

"Cabo" Jim 17:28

I love it. I love it. That's what it's all about. Garrett, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for being such a good neighbor, and uh I hope to come out and see one of your events soon. Awesome. Thanks for having me.

Garrett Kraska 17:39

I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you.

Intro/Close 17:42

Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast. No shade, just sunshine, drama-free, positive vibes only. If you loved what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going. Until next time, remember to combo and tell you wobble and keeping a good neighbor. Also, nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes, or local businesses to be on the show. Go to fmbgoodneighor.com. That's fmbgoodneighter.com, or call 239247-4100. What is the island loved to State insurance USA, sNug Harbor, Nervous Nellie, and the Alex King Group. We're the good neighbors and businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community and celebrating all the mixed portflies we're splice of we all love.