At Vizcaya, the historical
mansion on Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove, you can get some crazy wine.
At a recent tasting in the under-construction café, I quaffed the Hurricane Class 5 Florida white sangria. It's a delicious mix of pineapple, watermelon, passion fruit, key lime, and mango wine.
There' s also a key lime wine -- Key Limen -- and a mango variety called Mango Mamma. The Key Limen recently took best in show at the 2011 Florida State Fair for best wine produced by a commercial winery. It was also awarded best in show at the Florida Farm Winery competition.
They are all produced by Florida Orange Grove & Winery and are made 100 percent from the juice indicated on the label. The citrus wines
have the Florida Fresh stamp of approval, according to Kellie Woodward of purchasing and product development for Vizcaya Café & Shop, where they are sold.
Bottles range from $18.95 to around $50. Most are in the mid-$20 range. The specialty port wines are priced
around $50.
Vizcaya is the lone retail outlet for Florida Orange Grove & Winery products in Miami. The third-generation, family-owned business has been producing unique wines
since 1991. The main winery is located in St. Petersburg, and the largest distributor is Epcot at Disney World. The wines
are available online at the Vizcaya Café & Shop and also by
phoning ahead and then picking up the wines in person.
One caveat: The tastings we attended allowed only mouthwash-size shots in tiny plastic cups -- and we were limited to one each.
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