The History & Culture of Made in FL Wines | Lunch & Learn at Goodwood Museum & Gardens – Tallahassee, FL

Long before grapes grew on the trellises of Napa and Sanoma, wine was made in Florida.

The historical record shows that wine was made in 1564 by the French Huguenots who settled at the mouth of St. John’s River in Fort Caroline, Jacksonville, about 133 years before the first winegrape was planted in California in 1697.

The historic 17th century Spanish Mission San Luis de Talimai in Tallahassee (now the Mission San Luis Museum) was once known to be the Emile Dubois’s Vineyard and Winery.

Today, the future of the grape industry in Florida looks promising, and the once “lowly” native muscadine grapes are slowly but surely gaining the attention and respect they deserve, with the State of Florida on its way to becoming one of the top wine producers in the country.

The speaker for this lunch & learn program will be Frank Humphries, a researcher at Florida A&M University’s Center for Viticulture and Small Fruit Research; Humphries specializes in wine analysis and Florida viticulture and has received a mentorship from Italian winemaker, Matteo Volterelli, in winemaking operations and wine analysis.

This is a brown-bag luncheon. Attendees are encouraged to provide a $5 donation at the door.

This lunch & learn will be held in Jubilee Cottage at Goodwood Museum & Gardens (1600 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee).