Carl Sutton wears a number of hats on Nantucket, whether as the wine buyer and guide at Épernay Wine & Spirits or a produce packer for Nourishing Nantucket. More recently, he added “maker of Oversand Rosé” to his repertoire.

Sutton, who came to the island seven years ago and never left, launched Oversand Rosé in July 2022. This summer, he returned with the 2023 vintage and sold approximately one-third of the 160 cases at Pip & Anchor, Épernay, and Bartlett’s Farm by early August. “We had people at the beginning of this season asking, ‘When is it going to be back in?’” Sutton says.

He describes the rosé—which is 78% Mourvèdre, 11% Grenache, and 11% Cinsault—as earthy with notes of watermelon and strawberry. The wine is aged for six months in stainless steel after fermentation with wild yeast—a stark difference from the three-month industry standard in the United States.

According to Sutton, the biggest challenge he’s faced thus far is predicting how much wine to make. “What will the market absorb? How much of it can we make?” he asks.

While the label may be newer to Nantucket, making wine isn’t for Sutton, who started in the industry in the mid-1990s in the tasting room of a small family-owned winery in California. His ability to speak Spanish led him to get by in the winery and vineyard in addition to the tasting room, allowing him to learn multiple aspects of winemaking quickly. Not only did he find his passion through the experience, but he continued working at wineries in both sales and production.

He also began making his own wines at home in 1996, later named Sutton Cellars. “That quickly developed into something that was way, way bigger than a hobby,” he says. He continued to produce wines under the commercial label out of California for 20 years.

Then in 2017, shortly after closing Sutton Cellars, he was invited to Nantucket for a three-week consulting job at Triple Eight Distillery and Nantucket Vineyards Winery. Three weeks turned into seven years as Sutton became a year-round resident.



In addition to Oversand Rosé being carried exclusively on Nantucket, the bottle pays homage to the island with its label: a pink replica of Sutton’s 2020 oversand permit. Between the label art and the flavor profile, Oversand Rosé has quickly become a local favorite. Sutton notes that many Realtors and landlords purchase the bottles for client welcome baskets, adding, “It screams Nantucket. Everyone’s going to be able to identify it.”