David K.
Yelp
Krome Ave south of Homestead I saw the sign - Schnebly Winery, Southernmost winery in the United States, 4 miles. I had time. And so I went. An easy 10 minute drive west into farm and nursery country turned up this large complex, the winery, bar and retail space, vineyards, also a brewery and taproom. I was there for the winery.
It's fruit wines here, of all types tropical; grapes few and far between. But what fruit wines! Not that sweet Boones Farm or what you might be thinking but complex, sometimes dry wines that make you think "good wine", not just "good fruit wine". Guava! Avacodo! Passionfruit! Lychee! Mango! Cocoanut! No, I do not recommend the cocoanut. Big fail. But all the others, really interesting.
The AvoVino for example, a dry avocado wine, was bright and citrusy like a Riesling, and you wouldn't know it was avocado until you dwelled on it for a while.
I tried 7 including the AvoVino, a pineapple, starfruit, guava and lychee. I liked most of them but not the cocoanut. And the mango was my least favorite of the others. The Pineapple was my favorite.
It was early in the day when I arrived, not busy and I was the only customer at the time. So the bartender stayed with me for most of the time I was there. She gave me ample opportunity to decide which 7 of the 18 I wanted to try, take my time sampling them, ask a lot of questions, and generally relax. A great tasting experience. Sampled some really good and unique wines and I bought 3 bottles to bring home.
Just one negative but it's a big one. The price, $25 for a tasting of 7 wines, is too much. A little over a standard glass in total. Tastings used to be free, and you'll buy a bottle or two if you like the wine. But not enough people did. So then it was $5, then $10. But $25? Plus tip.
In the end the draw of the tropical fruits and the southernmost winery aspect won out over my displeasure at the price. And, with wines this good I want to go back and try the others - half price if I remember to bring my souvenir glass!