Wine country -- close to home

No need to leave the state to find intriguing new wines. Just cross the Sunshine Skyway to Manatee County's Rosa Fiorelli Winery.

By CHRIS SHERMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 3, 2000

BRADENTON -- Rosa Fiorelli Winery, Florida's youngest, catches you by surprise in the orange groves of Manatee County. It's just a small concrete ranch house with two outbuildings, all painted pink, sitting in seven acres of grapevines.

In the former garage, the summer's grapes sit in a dozen big plastic tubs, slowly turning to wine in 50-degree comfort. Inside the little house with the porch, visitors find the finished product -- bottles of Conquistador, Manatee Red, Blanc du Bois and muscadine, standing on pyramided cases -- and maybe Antonio and Rosa Fiorelli working at the computer and listening to the Three Tenors.

[Photo: FLorida Department of Agriculture ] Florida’s hot weather precludes winemakers from growing vinifera wines, so they have developed the native muscadine grapes in vineyards such as this.

They never heard the nay-sayers who said wine grapes could not grow here. "I come from Sicily," Antonio will tell you. "We grew a lot of grapes there," even if it is hot.

So the Fiorellis planted vines in their back yard 14 years ago and started bottling three years ago. Now they make almost 7,000 gallons a year. "In my heart, I felt something's there," adds Antonio.

Do not expect the grapes of Europe or California (the Fiorellis tried chardonnay and pinot noir, but they died). Instead you'll find intriguing wines very much handmade: They tend and pick the vines themselves and do all crushing, fermenting and bottling in the garage.

Fiorelli has made Florida's white hybrid, Blanc du Bois, do three different turns, while keeping the varietal's full bouquet and sweetly crisp edge. There is a "dry" version with a riesling aroma and nutty taste, a still drier version that mimics a fino sherry, and a sweeter, fuller "classico." None are cloyingly sweet, but all are best with a slight chill on them.

He also has used Blanc du Bois in blushing rose-like blends with California red grapes, but his trophy is a honeyed dessert wine made from native muscadine. Those lucky enough to taste the 1999 sell-out vintage have signed up for a phone call when the 2000 is released in mid December. The winery's products range in price from $10-$17.

If you go

The Fiorellis open the bunch-grape vineyards for u-pick in summer, entertain groups for catered events in a pavilion in the vineyards, and plan to expand the winery and start a restaurant.

Rosa Fiorelli Winery: 4020 CR 675, Bradenton, FL 34202; near intersection with SR 64. Call (941) 322-0976. Tastings Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m.

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