Russo Wine Company

Russo Wine Company is a relative newcomer compared to some of Winter Park’s decades old retailers, founded in 2021, but it has built its identity around something that takes real expertise rather than just time in business: owner Anne Russo holds a WSET Level 3 certification, a serious credential in wine education that requires genuine study in tasting, production, and the wine trade. That background shows up directly in how the shop operates. Russo has said she personally tastes every bottle before it gets stocked on the shelf, which means the selection reflects one person’s actual palate and standards rather than a distributor’s catalog handed down wholesale.

The shop describes itself as small and bright, a description that captures the kind of tightly curated wine shop that has become increasingly popular as an alternative to sprawling liquor store wine aisles where the sheer volume of options can make choosing something genuinely difficult without expert guidance. At a shop this size, every bottle earns its shelf space, and a conversation with staff about what you are cooking for dinner or what you generally enjoy tends to produce a much better recommendation than scanning a wall of two hundred unfamiliar labels alone.

Beyond straightforward retail sales, Russo Wine Company offers in-home tastings, bringing the shop’s curation directly to a customer’s dinner party or gathering, and runs a seasonal wine club for repeat customers who want a rotating selection of hand picked bottles delivered or ready for pickup without having to keep track of new releases themselves. Both of those services reflect a business built around ongoing relationships with customers rather than one-off purchases, a smart approach for a young shop working to build a loyal following in a competitive category.

Located on Aloma Avenue rather than directly on Park Avenue, Russo Wine Company serves a slightly different, more neighborhood-oriented stretch of Winter Park, useful for locals who want expert wine guidance without making a special trip downtown. For anyone in the area looking for a knowledgeable, hands-on wine shop run by someone with real formal training in the subject, rather than just a retail buyer following industry trends, Russo Wine Company is a strong and still growing addition to Winter Park’s wine retail scene.

For anyone new to wine and intimidated by walking into a shop cold, a small operation like this tends to be a far more welcoming entry point than a big box liquor aisle, since a shop this size lives or dies on making every customer, regardless of experience level, feel comfortable asking questions and leaving with a bottle they will actually enjoy.