Carrot wine?

I know-- it sounds gross. But honestly, it tastes kind of like Chardonnay.

Today we ventured over to Florida Orange Groves and Winery to find out what the buzz on all their citrus and non-grape-based wines was all about. We'd seen the sign for the "winery" in south St. Pete before, but always figured "what the hell kind of winery would be any good here?" Well, I'm glad we stopped by. This place has 36 different varieties of wine made out of everything from mangos to blueberries. And yes, carrots, too. They're more than happy to pour for you, so we tried quite a variety of their wines. First we were offered the carrot wine, but the main ingredient wasn't revealed until after we'd tasted. It really didn't taste a thing like carrots. The blueberry wine was also quite tasty and we were told that a reduction of the blueberry wine tastes mighty fine over ice cream. Some of the other flavors we tried included blackberry, raspberry, peach, passionfruit, orange, orange/chocolate, mango, grapefruit and a five flavor white sangria blend. They weren't bottling anything in the back today, but when they are, they're happy to take you back for a tour so you can see just exactly what it is that they do there. If you're ever in the St. Pete area and looking for something a little different to do, definitely check this place out. It won't take too much time out of your day, and it's free, too! (Unless, of course, you wind up going home with 4 bottles of wine like we did....)