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The Sunshine State's vintners, from St. Augustine to Fort Myers, may surprise you with their products.
By JAY CLARKE
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 3, 2000
If it wasn't so flat and so warm, you might think you were in a California wine valley.
Neat fields of grapevines spread out before you as you drive up the hill to the Spanish-style Lakeridge winery. Inside, you join a tour of the facilities, learning how the grapes are crushed, how the juice is fed into tanks and casks to mature, is bottled and then crated for shipment. Then comes the sampling, just as in California.
But this is Florida.
Florida is seldom thought of as a wine-producing state, but French Huguenots reportedly made the area the first in the New World to produce wine when they made it from wild grapes in 1562. Today, eight wineries in widely separated parts of the state offer tastings of wine made from Florida grapes.
Unable to grow the vinifera vines used to make European and California wine because of Florida's hotter climate and voracious insects, Florida's winemakers have turned to native muscadine and hybrid bunch grapes. Their wines cannot challenge those in California, but they do offer different flavor characteristics, as well as an interesting diversion for tourists.
Lakeridge, whose annual production of 50,000 cases makes it the biggest winery in Florida, is situated at Clermont, in rolling country just 25 miles northwest of Walt Disney World. The winery has 67 acres of vines and 97 percent of its production is sold at the winery, which draws about 100,000 visitors annually.
Lakeridge's No. 1 seller among its 12 products is Southern Red, a sweet red wine, according to general manager Keith Mullins. The winery also makes whites and sparkling varieties, and "We sell out all of it in six months," Mullins said.
Festivals are a monthly occurrence at Lakeridge. The most popular are the Wine Fest in February (Feb. 23-25) and the Harvest Festival in late June (June 22-24). Grape-stompings are held during June and August festivals.
In the Panhandle near DeFuniak Springs is the Chautauqua Winery, which produces seven wines from its 40 acres of vines.
Chautauqua's most consistent seller is Carlos, a semi-sweet white. Its wines are made from native muscadine and scuppernong grapes. A recent addition to its line is Wildflower, a fragrant white sweetened with wildflower honey.
Chautauqua's tasting center is situated just off Interstate 10's exit 14, nine miles south of the vineyards. This winery holds an annual one-day harvest festival on the last Saturday of September, with tastings, entertainment, arts and crafts exhibits.
On the banks of the Caloosahatchee River east of Fort Myers stands Eden Winery, which boasts that it is the southernmost winery in the United States.
Eden produces about 20,000 gallons of wine a year, including Eden Stars, a blush variety made from the carambola, or star fruit, which continues to surprise owner Earl Kiser: "I thought it would just be a fad, but it's still going strong."
Unlike other Florida wineries, Eden sells most of its wines through a distributor. "This winter we'll be in 400 or 500 retail outlets," Kiser said. Only about 35 percent of Eden's production is sold at the winery.
Its best seller is Alva Rouge, a light-bodied red. "It's very light, very friendly. We call it Mildred's spaghetti wine," Kiser said; Mildred is his wife.
His most elegant wine, he says, is Lake Emerald, a white wine he ferments in french oak. "It's extremely dry."
Kiser used to hold a harvest festival but was rained out so often that he now plans only a fete in winter, the dry season.
San Sebastian Winery, situated in a historic East Coast Railway Building in St. Augustine, produces 12 wines, including a port and a cream sherry. Outside is a picnic area for festivals and concerts.
"We do three festivals a year," said Charles Cox, the general manager. "Fine Art and Jazz is held in May, a Harvest Festival at the end of August (to coincide with the Nights of Lights in St. Augustine) and our Holiday Open House" in mid-November.
The winery's top seller is Vintner's Red, a sweet wine made from the Noble grape. San Sebastian's Rosa, similar to a white zinfandel but made with muscadine grapes, won a silver medal in 1999 at the International Eastern Wine Competition in New York's Finger Lakes region.
San Sebastian, which is owned by the same group that has the Lakeridge Winery, is planning a major expansion that will more than triple its space, providing not only more production space but also additional rooms for tastings, banquets and a rooftop deck. The work should be completed by mid-2001.
One of the most unusual wineries is operated by Florida Orange Groves in St. Petersburg. It makes 19 kinds of wines from citrus, berries and other fruits. "There's not a grape in the bunch," the company boasts.
Despite this, the winery's Gladys Shook reports, its best seller, Orange Sunshine wine, has won 49 medals in two years.
"And at the International Wine competition in Indianapolis at Purdue University in 1998, the French judges thought our 40-Karet wine, made of Florida carrots, was the most expensive chardonnay," she said.
She added that the winery's strawberry cream sherry won a bronze medal over Harvey's sherry "and the Florida Department of Agriculture allows us to use the prestigious Florida Sunshine Tree logo on our grapefruit champagne."
The winery makes wines from such fruits as oranges, grapefruits, tangelos, tangerines, key limes, watermelons, tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. One popular selection, she said, is a dry wine made from tomatoes and aged with jalapeno. It's called Hot Sun.
WINERIES AND THEIR TASTING HOURS
Chautauqua Winery: 364 Hugh Adams Road, De Funiak Springs, FL 32435, at Interstate 10 and State Road 331 (Exit 14). For information, call (850) 892-5887. Tastings 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sundays.
Dakotah Winery: 14365 NW U.S. 19, Chiefland, FL 32626. Call (352) 493-9309. Tastings 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday.
Eden Winery: 19709 Little Lane, Alva, FL 33920, 10 miles east of I-75 at exit 25. Call (941) 728-9463; e-mail to eden@olsusa.com. Tastings 11 a.m.-4 p.m. except major holidays.
Florida Orange Groves Winery: 1500 Pasadena Ave. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33707. Call (727) 347-4025; www.floridawine.com. Tastings 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except summer/early fall, when the winery is closed on Sundays.
Lakeridge Winery: 19239 U.S. 27 N, Clermont, FL 34711, three miles south of Florida Turnpike exit 85. Call (800) 768-9463 or (352) 394-8627; www.lakeridgewinery.com. Tastings 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
San Sebastian Winery: 157 King St., St. Augustine, FL 32084. Call (888) 352-9463 or (904) 826-1594; www.sansebastianwinery.com. Tastings 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
Three Oaks Winery: 3348 State Road 79, Vernon, FL 32462, 10 miles south of I-10. Call: (850) 535-9463; e-mail: lbiddle@digitalexp.com. Tastings 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; closed in January.
For more information, see the Florida Department of Agriculture's Web site: www.fl-ag.com/flawines/.