SOUTH PASADENA, Fla.—Florida Orange Groves takes wine to a whole new level; they only use 100% tropical fruit, citrus and berry juices for their wines—no grape blends are sold.
The family-run winery was the first in Florida to utilize these different fruit juices for wine.
“We are a tropical, citrus and berry winery that started as a result of our being involved in the packing and processing of citrus and juices way back in the 70s,” president and co-owner, Vincent Shook, said. “We were squeezing our own fresh citrus juices. And we started to experiment making wine out of the different fresh-squeezed juices that we were selling here, and it kind of evolved from there to the tropicals.”
Visitors can choose from over 43 varieties of wine, made from fruit like honeydew, oranges, kiwi, raspberry and more. The bottles range from $19-$23 dollars, and wine cans, pouches and smoothie mixes are also available for purchase.
The winery also offers free wine tastings and tours seven days a week. Try up to eight samples of different wines, including sparkling wines and freshly-made wine smoothies. Tours of the winery showcase their bottling and labeling process, as well as information about the winery’s history.
At the end of your free tasting and tour, you can browse the gift shop's wide variety of souvenirs and wine-themed mementos—everything from shirts to wine holders to funny signs.
“I invite everybody to come in to taste the product,” Shook said. “I think you’ll find the wines very interesting. When they are paired with the right foods, we like to say that they bring flavor and style characteristics to meals that regular grape wine could never hope to do.”
To learn more about Florida Orange Groves Winery, click here.
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