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Uncork A Good Time

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Vintner Ron Hunt pours samples for Elisa Hopping and Ric McManus at Florida Estates Winery in Land O' Lakes.

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By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 16, 2008

While Florida may never rival the offerings of California's famed wine country, there are some places here where you can savor a wine experience that goes beyond sipping the fruit of the vine, or the juice of the berry.

Take the Keel & Curley Winery near Plant City, for example, the site of the inaugural Tampa Bay Blueberry Festival this weekend.

''There are a lot of people who don't even know that there is a blueberry crop in Florida, so we're holding a celebration to call attention to it and to get them to visit our winery,'' says owner Joe Keel.

On Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. there will be music, food vendors, kiddie rides, face-painting, arts and crafts, free U-pick trips to the blueberry patch, and, of course, wine tastings.

It all takes place around Keel & Curley's spacious new tasting room and gift shop, which has an impressive outdoor wooden deck and concert stage.

Off The Beaten Path

Up the road in Land O' Lakes, Florida Estates Winery is nestled under tall, shade-giving oaks along a dusty, unpaved road. Wine events with music, vendors and tasting classes are offered on select weekends.

Open about six and a half years, the cozy tasting room is inside a modest home. In the open spaces behind the house, wine lovers can relax in the shade and watch the sunset in a pastoral setting.

A highlight is learning how to sniff, sip and eyeball wine from the winery's vintner, cellar master and tasting expert, Ron Hunt, who mixes humor with education in his tasting classes.

''Our most popular wine by far is our Plantation Spice,'' he says without divulging its secret ingredients. ''We always serve that with a bit of chocolate because it always tastes like you got a big old chocolate-covered cherry in your mouth,'' he says.

Hunt's personal favorite is a Strawberry Port, made with Plant City berries. ''It was the first one I made and it was a mistake,'' he says, noting that he planned to ferment some strawberries for a couple of weeks to make a light wine. But the bottles didn't arrive for two months, and by that time he discovered that mixing in a little brandy produced a good port.

''We're a little out of the way but people have found us,'' he says. ''And we get people out to our festivals twice a month and I teach a three-hour wine appreciation course once a month.''

Hunt says it's not surprising that there are more wineries opening in Florida. ''Wine is the fastest growing beverage in the country,'' he says. ''By the end of the decade, wine consumption in the United States will surpass the rest of the world combined.''

Quick Wine Tour

In Tarpon Springs, the Castle Winery was built to resemble a Federal-style building from the early 1800s. Bubbling fountains and a lush courtyard add an old-world charm to wine tastings.

You can pick up a chocolate-dipped bottle of wine for that special occasion at Vintner's Cellar Custom Winery in Lakeland, while citrus-flavored wines are the specialty at Florida Orange Groves and Winery in St. Petersburg.

The Rosa Fiorelli Winery in Bradenton offers a tour that includes a stromboli or sandwich, salad and wine served in a souvenir glass.

More than 100 free-roaming chickens, a Cracker-style farmhouse and wine sippin' on the porch to fiddle music contribute to the down-home ambience at Henscratch Farms Vineyard & Winery in Lake Placid. You can even get a bottle of wine made from fruit you mashed with your own bare feet (complete with your photo on the label) at the winery's annual Grape Stomp Festival in August.

Florida's largest winery, Lakeridge in Clermont (30 minutes west of Orlando), has tours, food, a gift shop, jazz and art festivals on select weekends, and an annual Harvest Festival (June 13-15) that features grape stomping with your bare feet.

Blueberry Delight

At Keel & Curley, Hillsborough County's only winery, blueberry wine is king.

Top sellers include the Dry Blueberry, Semi-Dry Blueberry, Sweet Blueberry and Strawberry Riesling (made from the more-famous Plant City fruit). The winery produces more than 14 varieties of wine.

''They also make a terrific blueberry juice,'' says Julie Rodrigues, a frequent Keel & Curley visitor who doesn't even drink wine. ''This is Plant City's best little secret and we bring our whole family, all our friends and visitors out here. My kids love the blueberry juice.''

The Rodrigues family was at the winery's Food & Wine Festival on April 20 and plans to be back for this weekend's Blueberry Festival, which celebrates the close of Florida's blueberry season.

Blueberry farms can be found from Arcadia to Gainesville, and the 2007 crop (more than 3,000 acres) was estimated at 6 million pounds and brought in more than $33 million, according to the Florida Blueberry Growers Association.

Most of the heat-hearty Florida berries, developed by the University of Florida, are sold on the fresh fruit market. Florida blueberries are harvested between late March and mid-May before blueberries from California, New Jersey, Georgia and North Carolina hit the market.

Wine is made from blueberries that are too small, misshaped or imperfect. The winery has steadily increased production since opening in 2003, says winemaker Chase Marden.

''We've gone from 10,000 bottles a year to what we hope will be over a 100,000 bottles this year,'' Marden says. ''Our new tasting room is a success because it gets filled just about every weekend.''

''I love this place because you can sit out on the deck, drink a glass of wine and listen to music,'' says customer Ginger Barnett, who treks from Zephyrhills for weekend events.

Olga Santamaria, the winery's marketing director, says they are trying to expand the wine experience by hosting concerts, dinners, art festivals and other events.

''For the Blueberry Festival we will have a special booth with all kinds of blueberry goodies: muffins, juice, pies, jellies, breads ... you name it,'' she says.

Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654 or wbelcher@tampatrib.com.

Wine List

Keel & Curley Winery, 5210 W. Thonotosassa Road, Plant City; (813) 752-9100

Florida Estates Winery, 25241 State Road 52, Land O' Lakes; (813) 996-2113

Florida Orange Groves and Winery, 1500 Pasadena Ave. S., St. Petersburg; 1-800-338-7923

Henscratch Farms Vineyard & Winery, 980 Henscratch Road, Lake Placid; (863) 699-2060

Lakeridge Winery, 19239 U.S. Highway 27 N., Clermont; 1-800-768-9463

Rosa Fiorelli Winery, 4250 County Road 675, Bradenton; (941) 322-0976

Castle Winery, 320 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs; (727) 943-7029

Vintner's Cellar Custom Winery, 3615 S. Florida Ave., Suite 450, Lakeland; (863) 644-8466

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