So two months ago, in March I was in Orlando, Florida for my birthday weekend.  Despite all the fun I was having and school being the least important thing on my mind at this point, something told me to just look up vineyards to see if one was nearby where I was staying. I’m happy I did that because there was one just 28 miles from where I was staying.  So the next day, I dedicated my day to visiting this vineyard, so I won’t have to stress myself about going to one during spring break in New York. The name of the vineyard I visited is Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards, which is located in Clermont, Florida.

Here at this vineyard they offer complimentary winery tours and wine tasting which was a big plus. On March 12^th, 2016, my cousin and I took the 28 mile drive to Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards so that I can complete this assignment. We arrived at 10:40 am and the tour started at 11 am. The tour lasted about 50 – 55 minutes. It started with a 10 minute short video presentation, where Ben who was always my tour guide for the day spoke the growing of the grapes on this site, wine making process and the bottling and labeling of the wines made here.

After watching the video, we immediately headed outside to view the vineyards. The five grape varieties grown at this vineyard are: Blanc Du Bois, Stover and Suwannee which are hybrid grapes and Noble and Carlos (red) which are Muscadine grapes. Ben told us that Hybrid and muscadine grapes grown in Florida survive because of the disease resistance they have and adaptability to the warm, humid climate that Florida has to offer all year around. Next we went to the tasting room, where we tasted four wines that are produced and bottled at this location. The four wines are:

• Lakeridge Chardonnay- this medium bodied white wine was very smooth and refreshing. It’s the first one on this list because it was my favorite wine I tried out of the other three we tried.
• Southern Red- this is a light bodied red wine made from the Noble variety of Muscadine grape. This wine was very fruity, but had a bitter aftertaste that I did not enjoy at all.
• Southern White- this is a white wine made from the Muscadine grapes that this site receives from local farmers. It was light bodied, crisp and ended with a fruity aftertaste. This wine kind of reminds me of Riesling.
• Stover Reserve– this white wine is made from Stover grapes grown on site. It is medium bodied to me and dry. In the smell and taste of this wine all I got from it was green apples. This wine can only be tasted on tours giving on Saturdays because of the limitations of the production. I was very lucky to go on a Saturday and try this wine.

After the wine tasting segment of the tour, Ben lead us to the gift shop and told us he had  a wonderful time with us and encouraged us to look around the gift shop. And that was the end of the tour.