Florida, yes, Florida.

[Fox Squirrel Vin]

@Fox Squirrel Vin, I meant what wine are you making now for personal use?

Nothing at the moment. I did a couple kits from Midwest last summer.

Nice blog by the way, I'll be spending some time there for sure.

 

[rustbucket]

Muscatine grape based wines taste like kerosene to me. Hopefully your efforts bring those of us living in Central Florida a good local red vinifera wine to enjoy.

 

[Fox Squirrel Vin]

I've had some OK ones, I cant really describe the flavor because they are so unique. The thing with Muskadines is their flavors vary so wildly so depending on which ones you use you either get something reasonable or absolute trailer trash hooch. I tried one with that intergenetic hybrid called Southern Home. It's a University of Florida creation that is a complex hybrid between V. rotundifolia, V. popenoei, V. munsoniana, and V. vinifera. It was made into a fortified wine that was actually pretty decent. I have one vine on my property I planted 3 years ago and it's good for fresh eating. The skins are not as crunchy and it is really nice served chilled. I actually prefer eating Muskadines over standard table grapes because they have such a rich flavor profile. If they ever created a thin skinned seedless variety with a good Muskadine flavor, they would up-end the table grape market. They really can be that good.

I certainly hope to produce a good Vinifera wine in Florida... It's been a long time coming and I have been waiting patiently and if these Andy Walker releases live up to the hype, I think we will see a lot more wineries making something worth drinking that was actually grown here. I'm not looking forward to dealing with the mildew/disease issues, there will be a lot of spraying and vineyard management, but seeing what some of the vineyards out west have to go through, I guess it's par for the course. Keeping my fingers crossed!