My mom, sister and I are having a b-l-a-s-t during our weekend of girly fun!
Our first activity of the day took us 40 minutes outside Orlando to Clermont, Florida for a wine tasting and tour at Lakeridge Winery.
We arrived at the winery around 11 a.m. and were ushered upstairs to watch a video about the start of the vineyard and the history of the winery.
After the short video it was time for the tour to begin.
We learned about the grape-picking and fermentation processes and I found it particularly interesting to learn that all of the wines at this particular vineyard are made using muscadine grapes which can handle the heat and humidity of Florida.
These big vats held around 25,000 gallons of wine and were lined with six inches of foam to keep the wine cool.
I thought the “grape shaker” machine was really neat! It is driven over the vines, shaking them to loosen the grapes that are ripe enough to be made into wine.
Another interesting fact: About 5 percent of the vineyards grapes are lost every year… to birds. 🙂
Once the grapes are shaken from the vine, they are placed in a machine that churns them up to release the juices.
After touring the bottling area, we headed back inside to get to the good part… tryin’ the wines!
I took my first wine tasting experience very seriously and even took notes. 🙂
I liked the more sugary wines… surprise, surprise. 😉
I found the white wines that contained 3.3 percent sugar to be the most palatable.
The white wine that had 6.6 percent sugar was almost too sweet and tatsed like grape juice, however the Southern Red wine that had a 6.6 percent sugar content was right up my alley. Finally a red wine I actually enjoyed! Success!!!
We all enjoyed the Pink Crescendo, a sparkling wine meant to be paired with a rich dessert (yes, please!).
Our sommelier made us all laugh when he opened the sparkling wine and simultaneously turned on a bubble machine!
My favorite wines from the tasting included the Southern Red, Sunblush, Chablis and the Pink Crescendo. Tasty!
We made sure to purchase a bottle of each of our favorites before leaving.
This was my sister and my first wine tasting experience and we really enjoyed it! It makes me want to take a little trip to wine country! Anyone wanna sponsor that little vacation? 😉
After our wine tasting experience, we headed home for a quick lunch before heading out for our second girly activity of the day. I’ll be back soon with an update of our first fancy-schmancy high tea experience. 🙂
Stay tuned!
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I live wine tasting which is great because I live in the heart of wine country. If you travel to northern Cali I will happily take you on a wine tour!!! 🙂
I have, oddly enough spent a ton of time in wineries, because my mother was an opera singer and frequently did performances at them, but have never been on a wine tasting as by the time I turned 21 I no longer lived in california.
I would love to go though!
Your girls weekend looks like a ton of fun!
I’ve always wanted to go to a wine tasting! I think it’s so cool to learn how each wine is different and how they are made. Can’t wait to hear about your fancy pants tea!
Your sister is so beautiful, really pretty!
thanks! i think so, too!
You guys are so cute!!
I love wine tasting! I’m hopefully going to go up to Napa in a month. It’s so beautiful there.
I’m glad you guys are enjoying your girls weekend!
I LOVE your outfits – ALL of you girls! You all look beautiful and so classy 🙂 What a wonderful and interesting experience! I am all for sweeter wine as well, except not grape-juice sweet, I agree 🙂 I’m glad you had a fantastic time, can’t wait to hear/see more about ya’lls day!!
😀 Meg
Looks like a fun day! I think I’d be a fan of a more sugary red wine, too – maybe that’d be the way for me to like red wine!
I love your skirt and your sister’s shirt, by the way. 🙂
Looks so fun! We don’t really have wineries out here .. I’d love to do something like that someday !
You are definitely 3 gorgeous women 🙂
I tagged along on a wine tasting when I was little with my grandparents. I would love to go now that I’m 26 and actually able to try the wine 🙂
Did I miss the recipe for the peanut butter bars that were served at your bachelorette party? They sounded beyond delicious!! Will you share it with us? Thanks….
I love wine tastings! I have gone to many with my dad… unfortunately my husband doesn’t really like wine!
sounds like a lot of fun! 🙂 Keep enjoying girl’s weekend! the best! 😀
wine tasting is so fun! maybe i’ll have to try and find that southern red wine you talked about. i don’t ever like red wines (and do try them) but always feel they’re somehow more sophisticated? haha, but looks like you girls had a blast!
Such a beautiful family! Isn’t wine tasting so much fun!! I went for the first time about a year ago.
You three are beauuutiful:)
Check out the winery in St. Augustine if you liked Lakeridge. Although Florida wines aren’t as good as northern state wines. There is also a small winery tasting place in Mt. Dora.
Wine tasting is so fun! I’m a huge fan of a sweeter wine too!
Have you ever tried Chocovine?
http://www.chocovine.com/
It’s tasty, but doesn’t taste like wine at all, more like Bailey’s or something… I can find it here in the middle-of-nowhere-Michigan, so I’m sure you could find it in the Orlando area!!!
Wine tastings are my absolute favorites. It is always so interesting to get to try different wineries. While I have yet to venture to CA, I definitely would love to! I did not know there was a winery near the Orlando area..I wish I had tried it while I lived there. Glad you enjoyed yourself!
I have never liked any of the wines I have tried. I wonder if I need ones with those high sugar contents that taste like juice!
Wine tasting is so much fun! Such a great way to try out a bunch of different kinds without having to spend a fortune. A couple of my friends and I are trying to get our “men” to arrange a Wine Tour for us out in the Finger Lakes of NY in September. We’re really hoping they follow through! lol
merci beaucoup pour cette information, Vous avez soulevé beaucoup de questions dans mon esprit , Je suis impatient de lire d’autres dans un proche avenir!
Just visited this winery for the first time while I was home in Orlando over Winter Break! My sister, her boyfriend and I LOVED our experience! Although, your pictures look quite different than ours because there were no grapes on the vines this time of year. We did learn that they have outdoor concerns starting in February once a month… how fun! I am going to make plans to go back with my boyfriend and sister for one of those to hear music and sip wine. What a treat!
Which was equally fascinating too as insightful! Thanks for sharing your ideas with us.