Interstate wine shipments legal in Florida?

In the MONEY section of the St. Petersburg Times this morning, reporter Joni James provides an excellent summary ("Wine lovers rue bottleneck") of the controversy over Florida's restrictions on receiving wine shipments from out of state.

If you've wondered what the fuss is all about, read this article.

From a Florida wine producer's point of view, one might want the prohibitions to remain because it doesn't apply to in-state wine makers. They can ship wine freely knowing that consumers who want out of state wines can buy them only through retailers or from in-state producers. This would clearly bias a buyer's selection to only in-state shippers ... and this is why a Tampa Federal Court, basing its decision on a ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court, recently decided that the Florida law is unconstitutional.

Although you might think that would settle the issue, it hasn't. Reporter James explains it very well so I won't try to do it again here.

My personal view aligns with Governor Bush and Senator Paula Dockery who sponsored legislation last session that would remove Florida's restrictions and allow the state's wine-loving consumers to purchase wine from any legitimate shipper in the country. This country's economic structure is based on the concept of free trade and unfettered competition and Florida's retrictions are clearly antithetical to this foundation of American commerce.

Unfortunately, the Bill didn't pass (I don't know why) so Florida's law remains inconsistent with the federal court rulings. Expect another Bill, therefore, to be introduced this coming legislative session to square the matter away.

Since the retailers are the ones who will lose their monopoly, and thus some degree of business from those who will chose to buy their wines from other sources, the retailers and distributors are vehemently opposing such legislation. It's a self-serving stance, obviously, that does not serve the pocket book of the wine consumer.

Racking the '05 batch

This weekend, we decided it was time to give our '05 batch of wine its first racking. Making sure the recieving containers and all the related equipment were sterile was the first step. In our new wine room, Pam prepared for the process. It's so nice ... no, it's wonderful! ... to have a dedicated space to do this. Trying to do it the kitchen just doesn't cut it.





















Having the space is one nice thing. Having the equipment is another.


















At the end of the evening, we ended up with something between 55 and 60 gallons. Some was discarded along with the racked must. Some found its way into our glasses for sampling. By the time we quit, it was 9:30 p.m. and, as you can see from the blurred images (I forget to put the camera on auto focus), I couldn't tell if was the camera or me that was out of focus.

So far, the wine seems to be coming out great, from our amateur points of view. Of course, it'd have to be pretty bad for us to see it differently. We're attributing this initial success to temperature control. When Richard and I built the room, we put in 6-inch studs and six inches of insulation, including the ceiling. The result is that I could keep the room at a constant 67 degrees during fermentation.

This is the first year we've had enough grapes to make more than just a little of juice so we tried to make wine from as many of the muscadine grape varieties we could just to experience the differences in taste. Though you can't see all of them on the counter, we have ten carboys ranging from five to seven gallons each: three Nobles, one Cowart/Noble blend, one Black Beauty, three Carlos, one Welder and one Triumph. The taste differences are surprisingly distinctive, yet all with that unique muscadine flavor.

After a one or two more rackings and then filtering, we'll adjust for sweetness (or maybe not), and then bottle it.

Meet Weenie

In 2001, on Halloween day, a fearful little black kitty showed up in the cook shack. When I came out to feed Mickey, our black Chow, that poor little thing would scramble, terrified, to the north fence and into the woods. The first time I saw him, he was just a black streak headed for the north woods. After several encounters, I told Pam there was a cat hanging around the cook shack where I fed the dog.

From that point, it was a game of strategy to befriend this frightened, lonely little kitten that obviously was badly in need of a regular meal.

One day, Pam called to it, as women can do, and the black streak slowed. Eventually, he stopped. She kept making those sounds and after several approaches he let her touch and pet him. The rest is "Weenie", the cat that showed up on Holloween.

In this this picture he stands guard before the cook shack, awaiting any sound or quick movement that will send him fearlessly streaking, now, for the safety of the house.

Weenie was not an apparent male when we first met him. Not wanting a lot of little Weenies, we took him to the vet to have "her" spayed only to be told it was a male that had already been neutered. Imagine our embarassment. Imagine Weenie's.

Today, Weenie is pretty comfortable and gets meals regularly.

Pleasures of Growing Your Own

One of the pleasures of growing your own grapes and making your own wine is having good friends join you to enjoy it. A weekend or so ago, Jim Martin, his wife Celia, daughter Camile (attorney), son Devonte (not shown) and friends Festus (sp?) (medical doctor) and his wife Rita from Giuana all dropped by to pick a few grapes. It was a fine day and we enjoyed their company. Fine folks all.

Photo Interlude

Makin' Muscadine Wine

After the grapes were picked, I hauled them in 5-gallon plastic buckets to the cook shack for processing.

Our set up at the cook shack consists of a crusher, a bladder press and a concrete floor that drains easily and consequently can be cleaned easily


We then ready the crushed grapes for pressing. Some have been kept covered and cooled for several days to allow the color and taste from the must to get into the juice.

The must is then loaded into the press with an old pot (sterilized) in which my mother cooked string beans probably forty years ago. The crushed grapes might not look very enticing to some, but to me and other amateur wine makers it's beautiful. If it looks bad, just remember how good sausage tastes.

When the bladder is inflated, the juice is at last released from its confinement in the pulp and peel of the grape. For neophytes like me, it's a telling moment of truth and excitement. After months of pampering and nurturing the growing plants and fruit, the gold is released from the soil and now can be made ready for the next step that will make it all worth while ... or not.


Capture every last drop now and take it to Pam's fermentation room in the new barn where ordinary grape juice will become muscadine wine.

Harvest Time

The past week, we've been processing more grapes for wine. Here are some pictures.
















Richard Blount helped us build the new barn we'll use to ferment the wine once we get it organized. We're almost there. Here he's helping pick Nobles, small red grapes we'll use to make red wine.














Nobles are small but prolific. Folks seem to like them more than others for winemaking. The owner of the Dakota Winery in Chiefland, Florida, told me he grows what the public wants and Nobles are what he grows most.















These are called Triumph. I don't know where such names come from. I guess the folks who develop them get to name them. Some names are pretty hokey. A farm in Georgia calls a large green grape they developed "Granny Val" after the guy's grandmother. .... cute.















Aren't these beautiful? They're called Supreme. It's a patented variety from that same Georgia Farm. These vines are barely a year old so I'm expecting a lot more next year and even more the next. I was surprised and certainly pleased with what they produced the first year.




This is the "cookshack." It was originally a decaying, garage sort of structure when I bought the place. I rebuilt it from the roof down with pressure-treated 2X6's taken from the large barn in the background. The lumber was being used for horse stalls. Since we don't have horses ... well, those 2X6's just needed to be doing something else.

The cookshack is where we do the crushing and pressing ... and BBQ-ing ... and rib smoking ... and fish frying.

Making magical muscadine elixer

To date we've made 40 gallons of juice! Don't know if we should have more, based upon the age and number of producing vines we have, but we feel pretty good about it. Most of it is from the Noble, a muscadine variety and a small black grape that grows easily here, and prolifically.






Some of Pam's friends from HCC dropped by this past weekend and helped us do the picking. Phyllis and her husband, Mal and his wife and another lady. Nice folks. We fed them "cuban" sandwhiches made by a Greek restaurant that specializes in Italian food. Go figure.

Some of the younger vines producing for the first time this year provided enough fruit for us to see what kind of grape we'll be getting from them. I like the ones that are really sweet and grapy tasting, as opposed to those that are juicy but lack that certain richness that I believe is what growing the damn things is all about. Over time, we'll make the decision to focus on the variety we like most, be it a wine grape or a fruit grape.


We now have about 330 vines at various stages of maturity. 40 gallons should produce over 150 bottles of wine if all goes well. Since we're still so early in the learning process, however, some of it will likely not be worth keeping.

Our Florida vineyard - Spring and winter

Our Florida vineyard in the spring.



Our Florida vineyard in winter.

(Savannah, 2003)

Who is this brilliant, fiercely independent woman?

(Savannah, 2003)

My wife and I have been growing muscadine grapes since she mused one day that maybe it'd be cool to have a vineyard. That was in 2001. Since then we've planted over 300 vines including varietes as Welder, Fry, Carlos, Higgins, Noble, Cowart, Nesbitt, Black Beauty, Supreme, Granny Val, Jumbo, and Water Gate. This photo was taken last summer of a Noble vine, a great variety for making muscadine wine.

Muscadine wines are different from the traditional California and European wines and can require getting used to if you've never tasted them. Typically, muscadine wine is sweeter and "grapier" but it can be made dry by not adding sweetener during the fermentation process and/or letting ferment longer. We're still learning how to make drinkable wine and have much more know.

As I sit here typing this, Hurricane Dennis is in the process of slamming into Pensacola and Destin Florida. The media is painting it as a very wicked, deadly, ugly, mean, and dangerous storm. Their terms. Lots of reporters leaning into the wind and shouting into their microphones. My sister's neice lives in Ft. Walton Beach but decided to spend the weekend with her mother here on the west coast of peninsular Florida. The storm is having litttle to no effect here. Some light rain, on and off, for the last 24 hours. That's it. I even went out and mowed the vineyard this morning. Barely got wet. Word is her dad will be going back with her tomorrow and will take a chain saw. Based upon what I'm hearing on the TV, they may be in for much more that just a few downed tree branches.

Well, here I am. Arrived! I'm a blogger!

This is appareently a glass-house exercise, no less.

I'm not sure if I'm talking to you or thinking out loud to myself. Guess that will become clear as I learn more about how this blogging thing works.

I can blame this excursion into what could turn out to be a revealing mental exercise on the existance and westerly passing today of Hurricane Dennis. Being located on the periphery, we're not expecting much impact but it's dark and wet outside thus giving me the need to occupy myself inside.

The reference to "we" is to include my wife who will, I'm certain, read this and from time to time be contributing her own mental prolifera. Both of us find this very amusing, really ... to be sharing personal thoughts with the eavesdroppers of the electronic cosmos, though obviously only very benign thoughts at this point. Amusing and kind of spooky. Presumably one gets over such feelings as courage, understanding and confidence increases in what this process is all about. Does anyone really read this stuff"