When you come to think about it, a Saturday afternoon in Miami consists of the same few choices. But how many times can you either meet your friends for lunch or worship the sun by beach or pool?
If you're looking for something a little different, might we suggest heading down south to Homestead for a little wine and beer tasting at Schnebly Redland's Winery and Brewery?
There are a few different tastings available. The original is
$7.95 and includes a tasting of your choice of five of the 12 different
tropical fruit wines made on premises. The wines vary in sweetness and
body, ranging from the dry AvoVino ($15.95/bottle), which resembles a
crisp Pinot Grigio to the Passionfruit ($17.95/bottle), which is dark
pink in color and tart with a rich finish.
You can also
choose the sparkling and dessert wine tasting for $9.95, which includes short pours of five different sparkling and dessert wines ranging from the
Grand Reserve ($29.95/bottle), a Prosecco-like sparkling fruit libation to
the Lychee Dolce ($37/bottle), which is a heavy dessert wine that really
picks up the lychee flavor (we're thinking of mixing this with vodka
for an extra potent lychee Martini).
Both of the above tastings
include a take-home souvenir wine or champagne glass. Bring the glass
back on future trips to the winery and enjoy a repeat tasting for $5.
Later, stroll outside to the giant chickee hut
which is in the process of being turned into a beer garden. It's there
that you can get a taste of the winery's new brews. The beers and ales
are also made with tropical fruits and for $4 you can get a two ounce
tasting of each one. For $6, you can enjoy a four-ounce pour of the beers,
but we went for the smaller version mainly because we'd already been
through ten different wines.
Brews range from a light lager
(carambola) to tart (mango) to a dark ale (passionfruit). We can't see
them being our go-to brew for tailgating, but they would go nicely
with a specialty dinner.
After the tastings are over, Schnebly's
sells wine by the bottle to take home, ship, or to "stay." At Schnebly's, you can enjoy some more wine in the surrounding gardens. At the
present time, beers are not available for take home by the bottle.
On
most Friday and Saturday evenings, Schnebly's offers either live music
or karaoke, starting at 6 p.m. with a $10 cover charge for adults, $6
for kids. Wines by the bottle, soft drinks, and snacks are available for
purchase and you're invited to bring your own fixings for a picnic.
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