uncorking the difference at

If you know me personally, you know, I love wine – and red wine in particular. Well, I have found the place that will now be my go-to! Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant is brand new to Lee County, but has many locations throughout Florida and Illinois, which is where they were founded.

I was given the opportunity to attend their soft opening and I was absolutely beyond impressed. This place is a foodie’s dream restaurant! You walk in and are greeted by smiling faces, eager to welcome you. It is not too often the case, particularly in Florida, as each establishment seems to be too busy for those little details - but not Cooper’s Hawk! They train their staff to make you feel as welcomed as they can, and they have this down to a science!

As you walk in, the décor is simple and elegant. Wine is EVERYWHERE! It is like walking into wine heaven, elegant without the intimidation.

Cooper’s Hawk has many unique features, but one that is quite unusual to our area is the Napa-style tasting room. Anyone who wishes to participate in the tasting can do so! I plan to go back and do this very soon.

We were greeted and taken swiftly to our very comfy seats. As I went to go sit down, who did I spot but two of my favorite people: Cynthia Duff and Dan Detrick of CopyLady, Inc. They are not only our LCBA copier provider and servicer, but also one of our Platinum annual sponsors! We exchanged hugs and a few words, and then they get back to their dishes (which looked fabulous!).

When I got back to my table, I was greeted with the very friendly face of our server, Brenda. She was truly phenomenal and extremely attentive.

Now, because they are a winery, I expected them to have wine… But I did not expect over 50 types of wine! That is exactly what I saw on their glorious wine menu, which is coded with numbers that correlate with the food menu. They have taken the guessing out of it for you, and offer suggestions that their expert sommelier has chosen. My glass was never empty.

Now, it should be noted that their expert sommelier, Emily Wines (yes, that is really her last name!) is a certified Master Sommelier. In December 2020, she received the title of Board Chair for the Court of Master Sommeliers. Wines has created her own line of wines for Coopers Hawk, based on the motto “Empowered and Strong Women,” an inspiration of hers.

I had the pleasure of tasting one of her wines, the Camille, which is a Shiraz. I am not generally a fan of the Shiraz variety of wine, but this was beyond flavorful! The bottle art was beautiful, which is what draws me in most often, plus the flavor was super light and airy. I was thankful for that as I ate, because I needed something light to accompany my meals (yes, plural!).

On this particular night, I arrived hungry because I knew I was in for a treat so I wanted to be prepared. Our server offered her opinions on the appetizers, and then our friends Teri Hansen and Melissa Mitchell with Priority Marketing came over and also offered their opinion. Everyone agreed the Brussels sprout appetizer was the GOAT of appetizers.

Now, I do not ordinarily order these when I go out. I mean, it’s a Brussels sprout. But these little green balls of yumminess are not your average sprout! These were adorned with two sauces, a sweet Thai chili sauce and a sesame-sriracha aioli, with cashews and mint. Now that is a lot of flavor, and initially, I was not sure those flavor profiles would work. But with the first bite I was shook. The sprouts are crisp, the sauces and cashews are such amazing additions to the flavors, and the green sauce on this dish is truly otherworldly. As someone who was not thrilled with this recommendation when it was given, my mind was blown when it arrived and I tasted it. Do yourself a favor and get them. Trust me, they will blow your mind, too!

Now I could lie and say that we only got a veggie as an appetizer, but I cannot lie. We did indeed get two, yep, two more appetizers.

The first appetizer caught my eye immediately: the Asian ahi tuna sashimi. Now, I love sushi and was curious how a winery would do sushi? The answer is that they do it very well! This tuna was fresher than many other sushi spots in town, topped with avocado, radish and a light sauce of wasabi cream and sriracha. But the main character in this play was the sauce on the side, a ponzu-ginger vinaigrette. It was by far the best accompaniment to any sushi dish I have ever had. It is light in texture, but bold in flavor, and truly a delight.

For the last appetizer, we chose a classic option just to round the experience out and opted for the house-made meatballs. These are served in a bowl of amazingly simple and elegant tomato sauce with one of my new obsessions, burrata, along with polenta crostini. It was amazing!

Next, we checked out the entrée selections, which had something for everyone! Each dish sounded amazing and it was indeed hard to choose. But, if you have read these before then you know I love a good steak. I can get a steak virtually anywhere and wanted to stay in line with the fun foods I had already tried, so I went for the trio of medallions. These are three filet medallions, topped with three varieties of crusts: a blue cheese crust, a horseradish crust and a parmesan crust. The sides that accompanied this dish were asparagus and Mary’s potatoes.

The filet medallions were perfectly medium rare and as I cut into the first one, it was truly like slicing into butter. The tender texture with the crunch of the parmesan crust warranted a chef’s kiss. The dish used such simple ingredients, but the flavor profile was truly a journey. The blue cheese and horseradish medallions were just as phenomenal, but my favorite was indeed the parmesan.

And, what is a meat dish without potatoes? I dug into the Mary’s potatoes and quickly felt super comforted. Cooper’s Hawk uses a combination of Yukon gold and red whipped potatoes for this dish and it is super creamy. The asparagus, of course, was perfectly al dente!

For the sake of this article, we also opted for two additional entrees: the red-wine braised short ribs and the gnocchi carbanara. We were very excited when the dishes arrived. They are all presented so simplistically, but the flavors are far from simple!

The red wine braised short ribs, served on top of Mary’s potatoes and oven roasted vegetables, featured a grainy Dijon mustard butter. This came out looking so comforting and delicious. At first bite, it was as tender as could be and full of such complex flavors. The potatoes and veggies paired very well with the short ribs, and the Dijon butter took things up another notch. Each bite had such depth.

Next, I turned to the gnocchi carbonara. This dish is very unique, because unlike typical gnocchi, these are made with ricotta cheese! These little bundles of pasta were accompanied by a delectable selection of pancetta, chicken sage, peas and a pool of parmesan garlic cream sauce. This dish was truly one of a kind and one of the best dishes I have ever had – perfectly cooked, flavored and seasoned. Even the peas were perfectly cooked. Each bite was truly a pleasure. I would recommend this as a 10/10, along with anything else on the menu!

It was tough to make room for the next course, dessert, but you know I had to try all the things! Steve opted for the salted caramel crème brûlée. But for me, the chocolate cake spoke to me from the menu. Called the Cooper’s Hawk Chocolate Cake, I assumed it would be a simple chocolate cake. Nope!

This cake is made onsite with premium Valrhona chocolate and hazelnut ganache, topped with freshly made whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. I did allow Steve to have one bite, but that was it. This cake was all the things one wants in a cake! It was bouncy, with layers of the most yummy decadent chocolate and hazelnut filing. Absolute perfection! Our server Brenda also recommended the S’mores Budino dessert, even though she does not like graham crackers! The dessert was presented in a glass, which is perfect for holding so no one else can steal any! It is layered and presented like a pretty piece of art with caramel custard, Valrhona chocolate mousse with brown-butter toasted graham crackers. It’s also topped with freshly toasted marshmallow crème.

This is literally on a whole other level of desserts. It’s one of the best desserts I have ever had in my life of nearly 40 years as a self-described foodie. Every layer pairs absolutely perfectly with the others, plus the dessert paired wonderfully with my wine!

I would 10/10 recommend this new hot spot in Fort Myers. The venue, food, service and wine shop at Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant are all worth seeing. I have another reservation set to bring both my mother and Steve’s mother, so they can also enjoy such a tantalizing experience!