While traveling down in Florida a few years ago, Hubby and I discovered the San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine. The winery came into being in 1996, but the grape they use, muscadines, have been used for making commercial wine and port wines dating back to the 1500s. The first winery in what is now the United States was in the St Augustine area. St. Augustine is the the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement and port in the continental United States, founded in 1565, and there is big signage entering the city acknowledging this fact.
Muscadines grapes are natural to the southeastern United States including the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The typical muscadine wine is sweet due to vintners traditionally add sugar during the wine making process.
Vintner Description:
This wine is balanced to express intense fruit flavor derived from the Noble variety of the Native Muscadine grape. Vintners Red is sure to raise an eyebrow and a second glass. Served slightly chilled this wine is a great complement to any pasta dish as well as for just sitting and relaxing.
My opinion:
As all of you that have read my past wine reviews know, I love a sweet wine! And this was certainly sweet. The San Sebastian Vintner’s Red smelled like grape juice. The taste reminds me of nothing so much as Mogen David red wine, or a glass of Welch’s grape juice – both of which have their place, but not at $10 a bottle.
At $9.99 the San Sebastian Vintner’s Red is relatively inexpensive, and sweet, but that is about all it really has going for it. Saying that, the wine store sells a bottle in the shape of a lighthouse for a few dollars more. It is super cool, and worth buying if only to use that bottle in an art project! (someday, I swear!)
Hubby and I will return to the winery for a tour, and to try the white – hey, you never know!
As always, drink responsibly and please don’t drink and drive.
For more liquor and wine tips and reviews, click here.
Leave a Reply