Schnebly Redland's Winery - Homestead, Florida

While planning a trip to the Keys, we noticed that one of our favorite south Florida blues bands, IKO-IKO, was scheduled at America's southernmost continental winery, Schnebly Redland's Winery. And with this being the only true opportunity to "drink local", we based our first day around visiting the winery. Located so far south, the winery owners, Peter and Denisse Schnebly, could have decided to source grapes from northern Florida or other states, but instead chose to make wines from tropical fruits which excel in the hot, humid environment. And why not; the same holds for vineyards in other environments - only grow grapes suitable for that region. Plus Schebley's supports the local Redland area by purchasing all fruit within a four mile radius.

Arriving at the winery, we were greeted by an impressive structure. The tasting room and grounds are surrounded by coral stone blocks and thatch roofs, enclosing the facility in a tropical village. Entering the grounds visitors pass an initial koi pond and then to a large covered pavilion. The band and early partiers were setting up shop as walked past heading straight for the waterfall and larger pond. Bring plenty of quarters if you want to feed the hundreds of fish waiting below. And walk along the elevated walkway to the back hut for another view of the fish. A very impressive landscaping feet. We finally entered the tasting room, which itself, is a large structure with a central circular tasting bar, boxes of wine ready to be purchased, and a nice video area of the Redland community. Basically, Schnebly Redland's Winery is geared for the consumer to stay put while visiting; and why not, not only is it an awesome setting, but since its so remote - why leave anytime soon.

The winery charges different tasting fees, $6.95 for 5 wines; $9.95 for all, and $7.95 for the sparkling and desert selections. Look for local coupons to help alleviate these fees. As mentioned earlier the wines are made from non-traditional fruits - guava, passion fruit, mango, lychee, carambola (star fruit), and avocado. Yes, avocado - apparently their was a field that was too overripe for resale, so they gave tested their ability to make wine out of the fruit. In fact they make three versions, dry, semi-dry, and sweet. And quite frankly, they are not that bad at all, I still feel the need for a salt shaker whenever I sip - but not bad. One of my favorites was the Carambola Oak, where their starfruit wine is aged 6 months with French oak chips. This process gives a much fuller profile than their regular Carambola which didn't have enough flavor for my taste. Their most popular wines are the sweeter varietals, but none of these were syrupy sweet or gritty. In fact, their best seller, the Cat 3 Hurricane, a blend of Carambola, Lychee, and Guava, is actually a refreshing wine. The Mango was another I liked; the Guava and Passion Fruit I thought different, but not disagreeable; but interestingly the Lychee is their most awarded wine; but I didn't care much for it. Shows that everyone has different tastes and opinions - so don't trust mine - go sample some local south Florida wine. Plus I didn't even get into their dessert and sparkling portfolio. And checkout their weekend music schedule. IKO-IKO is a rocking swamp blues band.

Wine 101 - Chokecherry Wine

Chokeberry was an essential ingredient in the native American diet, either dried for winter use or mixed with fat and buffalo meat in pemmican - a staple of the native Indian’s of the prairie. Wild chokecherries were not only abundant; they are also loaded with nutrition. Chokecherries are a better dietary source of potassium (269mg/100g) than blueberries and strawberries, and contain 4.7g of fiber, 1.5g of protein, and 0.3g of fat per 100g of fruit. Today chokecherries are used to make syrups, jellies, jams, and wine - although winemaking is difficult because the berries are highly acidic and quite tart. Plus the seed accounts for over 50% of the berry’s volume. Despite this trouble and from its winter hardiness it is the fruit of choice for many vintners in the northern United States and Manitoba, Canada.

The first winery to vinify chokecherry commercially and perhaps privately was Prairie Berry Winery in South Dakota. The Vojta family had been creating wine from chokecherry ever since the first family members immigrated to South Dakota from Moravia in the late 1880’s. The recipe was passed to succeeding family members up to the present, where current winemaker Sandi Vojta (the 5th generation) decided to share the family wine. And why not, she grew up knowing how chokecherry wine should taste and was certain the public would accept this unique product. She first, though, had to convince the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Agency to allow production of commercial wines from the fruit. Once this was accomplished, other wineries were able to follow suit. Prairie Berry Winery’s “bread and butter” chokeberry wine is their Great Grandma’s Chokecherry, a wine made almost exactly from the original family recipe. This wine is made semi-dry and has a strong fruity flavor. The winery also creates a port-style chokeberry wine in their Great Grandma’s Chokecherry Bliss. In this wine, the chokecherry wine is fortified with cherry Kirsch which produces a great dessert wine. The chokeberries are also blended with grapes to create the Pheasant Reserve and with honey to make Chokecherry Honeywine. The Vojta family deserves our recognition for paving the path for the general public to enjoy this fruit wine.

In neighboring North Dakota, Chokecherry wine is one of Maple River Winery’s top sellers. According to Greg Kempel, Chokecherry wine is popular in North Dakota because “Everyone that grew up in the Midwest on a farm either made or knew someone that made chokecherry wine”. And since traditional vinifera grapes do not fare well in the Dakota’s harsh climate, fruit wines, such as chokecherry, must truly stand out to grab the public’s attention. Maple River Winery’s version is semi-sweet and they recommend serving with red meat dishes. Even though the wine is popular locally, the winery is seeking to alleviate the national "Grape" obstacle, i.e. the belief that all quality wine is produced from grapes. Mr. Kempel sees that, “with education, our chokecherry wine is gaining tremendous popularity...even in wine country”.

Further west, in Mt. Pleasant Utah, Native Wines specializes in creating wines from wild fruit. Chokecherry is one of their products, not only from its flavor, but also from its healthy side effects. Each year the winery sends samples of their red wines to a laboratory for antioxidant testing and chokecherry wine always tests near the top in its antioxidant scores. Chokecherry also has a long tradition in Utah, from the Native Americans and early pioneers to the present. Mr. Bob Sorenson, Native Wines owner\winemaker, says that many middle-aged and elderly customers are pleasantly surprised to find Chokecherry wine available. Mr. Sorenson’s Chokecherry wine is rather unique in that he adds a few pits of the fruit, which creates a “warm spicy/nutty” aspect to the flavor. He admits that since the pits contain a certain amount of cyanide some people may be worried about drinking the wine. However, Mr. Sorenson reply’s that “many old recipes include the nuts of the stone fruits and as long as the products are consumed in reasonable quantities there will be no adverse effect”. We for one will take him at his word and look forward to trying his version of Chokecherry wine.

Traveling north into Manitoba Canada, D.D. Leobard Winery started making Chokecherry wine in 2005 after three years of trials. The winery is located in Winnipeg and specializes in producing wines from locally grown or wild fruit. Their Chokecherry wine is made from wild berries and made off dry, with a strong cherry flavor. Although the wine has been well received by critics (it was awarded a bronze medal at the 2006 All Canadian Wine Championships) it has been demanding to produce commercially. First, the winery has found it troublesome to find someone to pick their supply of wild berries. Second, Chokecherry wine is difficult to produce. The berries are small and initially highly acidic and quite tart. The winemaker must reduce these properties while simultaneously extract the natural cherry flavor of the fruit. Finally, although Chokecherry wine is very popular in Manitoba, it is difficult to sell because of this popularity. Many people either make their own Chokecherry wine or know some family member or friend who makes it; thus, according to Denis d'Eschambault, one of the winery’s co-owners, “why pay for it!”

Chokecherry wine is produced by a little over a dozen wineries in North America, most likely from wild berries and family recipes. The styles range from the semi-dry version offered by Colorado Cellars Winery to the sweet, port-style Chokecherry wine offered by the Lil' Ole Winemaker Shoppe in Wisconsin. We are certain, regardless of the style, that the majority of wine consumers will appreciate this wine, once the opportunity to taste one, presents itself.

Fruit Wine Article

There is a good article called Ripe Time for Fruit Wine published in the San Francisco Chronicle. Author, Derrick Schneide, briefly describes the history of fruit wines in the United States, the difficulties producing quality fruit wine, and highlights a few wineries: Hawaii's Tedeschi Vineyards, Illinois' Lynfred Winery, and California's Bargetto Winery. It's nice to see a California publication printing an article that includes wineries in other states.

Wine 101 - Elderberry Wine

"The medicine chest of the common people." This is how American Indians and early settlers described the Elderberry - one of the most common fruit-bearing shrubs in North America. Elderberries contain a considerable amount of vitamins A, B and C, as well as flavonoids, carotenoids and amino acids. Warm elderberry wine is a remedy for sore throat, influenza and induces perspiration to reverse the effects of a chill. The juice from the berries is an old fashioned cure for colds, and is also said to relieve asthma and bronchitis. In addition to these health benefits, the elderberry produces a very interesting red wine.

We became interested in Elderberry wine after a Virginia winery recommended that we try Village Winery’s Elderberry wine. Village Winery is a new winery which opened in the summer of 2005 and is located just outside the heart of the village of Waterford, a National Historic Landmark. The winery currently has 5 acres of Elderberry shrubs planted in their vineyard. The recommendation was very accurate. Village Winery’s Elderberry wine is excellent and it compares favorably to their Merlot and Cabernet Franc offerings. The wine is very intense and distinct, with only a slight sweet finish. Others seem to agree with this assessment since approximately 75% of visitors to the winery’s tasting room purchase the wine after tasting.

Also in Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Peaks of Otter Winery produces 25 types of fruit wines, including an Elderberry-Apple wine. The winery is located on the Johnson’s Orchards - a five generation family farm, which was established in 1919. The 10 year old winery makes their Elderberry wine from owner Danny Johnson’s great grandmother’s recipe. According to Mr. Johnson, she did not have money to buy sugar so she fermented her elderberries in apple juice – a process that Peaks of Otter Winery uses today. The elderberries are harvested from wild shrubs or purchased if necessary. The Elderberry, as well as their other fruit wines, has been well received by their customers – as it sells out each year.

Traveling north into Pennsylvania, Laurel Mountain Vineyard produces Elderberry wine out of a renovated 100 year-old barn. Although their Elderberry wine has unique flavor, John Nordberg, the winemaker, believes the wine has some characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon. Residents of central Pennsylvania are very familiar with the Elderberry fruit from making or consuming elderberry jams and pies. Thus, the acceptance of Elderberry wine was not difficult.
In Hammondsport, New York, Chateau Renaissance Wine Cellars is known for producing Méthode Champenoise sparkling wines handcrafted using a 500 year-old family recipe. The winery also makes several fruit wines to accompany their grape and sparkling wines. According to Patrice DeMay, the owner-winemaker, the Elderberry wine happens to be one of the most popular fruit wines they produce. They produce 120 cases a year which sells out quickly because, as Mr. DeMay states, “The wine is an extremely good seller. The taste is wonderful.”

Close by, in New York’s Finger Lakes region, Cascata Winery produces a sweet dessert Elderberry wine. Cascata is a small boutique winery that, in addition to making quality wines, hosts a bed and breakfast in an old historic house built in the mid 1800's. The winery began making Elderberry wine because of the previously mentioned health benefits and their property contains an abundance of old Elderberry trees. The wine is fermented with fresh elderberries and then blended with another grape to mellow out the flavor. The current vintage was blended with Baco Noir. The winery recommends drinking the wine as an after dinner treat or on ice cream or other desserts. Cascata sells the wine directly from their wine shop and since elderberry is very familiar to the New York population, the wine sells nicely.

Continuing northwest to Woodstock Ontario, Birtch Farms Estate Winery began producing elderberry wine in 2002, primarily because the winery is licensed to only produce fruit wine and the Elderberry fruit grows nicely in Ontario. Their Elderberry is a rich fruit full bodied wine which has won two Gold medals in competitions. Although some “wine snobs” refuse to try fruit wines, in the short span of three years, this wine has won a loyal, regular clientele that has embraced Elderberry and other fruit wines. Because of the wine’s high acidity and fruitiness, Dyann Birtch recommends pairing the wine with cheese or serve as a dinner wine.

Out west, in Idaho, Camas Prairie Winery began producing wine from elderberries after have difficulty one year procuring huckleberries. The winery always has one wild berry wine available to its customers and elderberry was an excellent alternative. The winery is Idaho's oldest independent winery having been established in 1983 as a hobby and home wine making operation. Camas Prairie Winery’s Elderberry wine is a sweet dessert wine gathered from wild elderberries. Apparently this wine is quite good since it won a Bronze medal at the 2005 L.A. Fair.

Carlson Vineyards - Palisade, Colorado

For quite some time, we've wanted to review one of Carlson Vineyard's wines, but just couldn't decide which one. So instead, we decided to select a few of our favorites from this Grand Valley winery. The Grand Valley is noted for its bountiful fruit production so it’s no surprise that Carlson Vineyards makes several excellent fruit wines. Their Cherry Wine is our favorite and we usually purchase 5 bottles a time – the maximum that Virginia allows for a single shipment. This wine is made from 100% Montmorency Pie cherries and is sweet and tart – sweet up front and tart at the finish. We drink it mixed with seltzer or sometimes as Carlson recommends, in a glass laced with chocolate. They call it “chocolate cherry pie without the crust”.

For white wines, our favorite is their Laughing Cat Riesling. In our trip to the Grand Valley, we were surprised to find that the local Rieslings were very similar to those made in New York’s Finger Lakes. Not surprisingly, Carlson’s 2003 Riesling was the 2004 Riesling Champion at the 2004 International Eastern Wine Competition. Their latest vintage is a semi-sweet wine full of apricot flavor. The finish is nicely acidic and tart which is a perfect balance to the fruit.

Finally, we can’t forget their T-Red Lemberger. This wine is made from 100% Coloradan grown Lemberger grapes and is made with a light body from aging just lightly in oak. This process creates a full berry flavor, with a surprising spicy finish – reminiscent of a Syrah. The low tannins also provide a very smooth finish.