The Nest is no more, but the owner's branching out with a new downtown Pensacola wine shop

Owner of The Nest, Justine Gudmundson-McCain, is taking flight toward a new specialty wine shop, Green Thumb Wines located at 9 E. Gregory St., that is slated to open this month.

Gudmundson-McCain has a long history of success in Pensacola’s service industry, first opening her brick-and-mortar Bluejay’s Bakery in 2017, then The Nest General Store, a café serving breakfast and lunch, next door in 2020. It was at The Nest she gained a reputation for her collection of natural, low-intervention wines.

Now, she is hanging up her apron to focus on building a storefront that solely focuses on wine, sold by the bottle or by the glass, with six rotating varieties at a time for those who opt to try a glass in the shop.

She now has the first Pensacola wine shop to exclusively tap into low-intervention wines, which means all the wines she sells are made with organic and/or biodynamically grown grapes. This cuts out artificial additives that most mainstream wines include, and the wines she sources also incorporate more natural wine-making practices without using pesticides and herbicides.

Gudmundson-McCain said that not only are these wines better for the planet and for the health of the consumer, but also bring out better flavors into the finished product.

“I'm really passionate about it,” Gudmundson-McCain said. “A lot of times, they (winemakers) won't irrigate their vineyards that rely on natural rains. So, there are definitely a lot more fluctuations year to year, but you get a more accurate representation of what the grape is and where it comes from … it just gives you a much better story, and the wines tend to give you a lot better flavors.”

The “green thumb” tied to her business name is not just referring to the natural wines, but the dozens of plants that surround the space. Some serve as chic store décor in repurposed wine bottles.

“So I mean, the other aspect of this is just the plants. I have a major green thumb, and I love plants. My house is full, The Nest was full. This space is full now," she said. “It just kind of helps tie in the décor and offer a little bit more fun things as well.”

Since the shop neighbors her husband, Randy Russell’s, fan-favorite food truck Nomadic Eats, visitors will be able to eat their lunch inside Green Thumb Wines where they can either pair it with a glass of wine or opt for the one of her chilled non-alcoholic drinks.

The Nest says farewell: The Nest General Store opens in downtown Pensacola with coffee, breakfast and lunch options

Gudmundson-McCain said she plans to create wine pairings for some of the internationally inspired specials that Russell has in-store. While the two spent the past month traveling overseas, she was even able to visit some of the vineyards for the wine she supplies.

There, like at one family farm in Slovenia, she was able to see the techniques that have been practiced and protected for generations.

“It is becoming more trendy to be into these low intervention wines, but it's not a new thing. It's a very old thing. Most of the winemakers that I carry, they have old vines, they use old farming techniques. They've been around for a really long time and they follow these traditional paths, the traditional way of making wine. So, it's more the old is becoming new again,” she said.

She is excited to be able to share her knowledge of low-intervention wines with Pensacola in her shop and through events like her First Friday Fine Wine tastings.

Although Bluejay's Bakery is no more, she did bring one of her former bakers along with her to share the space and branch out into her own business, Make Ends Sweet.

There will be a case of freshly baked cookies for sale when she is open, with flavors such as espresso chocolate chip shortbread, pumpkin snickerdoodle, matcha sugar and adobo chocolate chip.

Gudmundson-McCain plans to be fully open by the month’s end, but the space is open for guests to check out in the meantime.

She plans to be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Follow Green Thumb Wines on social media for real-time updates and information.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Green Thumb Wines opens in downtown Pensacola with The Nest roots