Wine - Art - Jazz - St. Augustine, FL ... San Sebastian Winery

Florida is a great vacation destination, whether you prefer to be part of the in crowd at Miami's South Beach or take it a bit slower along the many smaller coastal communities.

I love St. Augustine, because of it's artistic flair and almost bohemian atmosphere.

As soon as we arrived, we parked our car and did not need it again until we headed for the  state park and the lighthouse tour a few miles away. Within the city of St. Augustine you can see all the attractions by foot, by carriage or by tram. 

St. Augustine is a charming seaside resort in Florida, known for it's history and it's art community. It holds the distinction of being the oldest town in America and was settled by the Spanish. 

A tourist magnet, this town is home to an inspiring and talented artist community. The many galleries and the variety of art mediums from paintings to pottery to metal work is utterly fascinating.

I couldn't get over the many different styles of paintings and art represented, whether in a gallery or on the next street corner. 

The old Fort offers a great tour and is without a doubt a huge attraction. Me, I am partial to the many outdoor cafes and taste tempting restaurants and the live entertainment found on every corner.

Thousands of visitors come over from Daytona during bike week or during the races. The mouse house (Disney) in Orlando in only two hours away. 

The Flagler Museum and Ripley's Believe It or Not, are popular attractions. I was particularly impressed with the stunningly beautiful Tiffany Glass collection on display at the Flagler.

Another point of interest was the Civil War Museum, small but interesting. There are several tours from evening ghost tours to a guided tour to see a Spanish hospital and medical instrument collection of a couple hundred years ago.

I had no idea that you could even grow grapes in Florida, much less produce wine. The wild muscadine grapes found in Florida were not that suitable for wine making, besides I knew that it takes about one hundred years to grow a great vineyard. 

While looking over the tourist guide, I noticed the advertisement for a free tour and wine tasting for the San Sebastian winery. Since I like free and was curious about the wine I wanted to go, but Richard hesitated.

He had visions of us being pinned down by wine salesmen and finally buying our freedom, escaping only by purchasing a case of overpriced wine - not so.

Intrigued to see how they made the wine in Florida, since I had never seen any wine cellars outside of Germany, I prevailed. The owner of the B&B recommended a tour suggesting we take the tram to the winery.  

The tram stops directly in front of a lovely outdoor patio cafe operated by the winery, perfect for sipping wine and people watching.

From their website: "San Sebastian Winery was founded in 1996 at 157 King Street, St. Augustine Florida, the birthplace of American wine. San Sebastian is among the very best of Florida's premium wineries, and is a pioneer in the development of table, sparkling and dessert wines from hybrid and muscadine grapes".

The tour of their rather large facilities was impressive, we saw a slide show telling us a bit about the Florida muscadine grapes and the process of wine making.

We loved the wine tasting which took place at a long table. A wine taster, who presided at the end of the table gave us humorous, but informative instructions on how to taste and we literally laughed our way through the wine tasting. 

I don't pretend to be an expert about wine, but I know what I like:) says she who had her own small wine glass at the Sunday dinner table from age ten.  

We spent a fun afternoon without encountering the dreaded pushy wine salesmen. I enjoyed perusing all the wine related gifts at the gift shop. Everything from individual bottles of wine to gift baskets and cool wine paraphernalia.

I liked their wine called Rosa (hey, maybe there is something in a name:) I checked the price on line right before I wrote this article and the bottle sells for $7.95 as of this writing. We ordered it to be shipped along with some cool wine glasses engraved with the emblem of the winery, a cheap and practical souvenir. 

Rosa

Complements a variety of foods or will be nice for just sipping on a warm afternoon. The light and refreshing style of this wine is balanced perfectly with a hint of sweetness. The delicate fruity character represents the finest of the Native Florida Muscadine grapes.

They do sell wholesale as well, but I am happy with a price of a light summer wine at $7.95. The winery offers printing a private label with your name on it, which would be a fun gift for the person who has everything.

So if you ever find yourself in Orlando, I'd suggest you take a day trip to the historic city of St. Augustine. If you tour the huge Fort and maybe the historic inner city with all the gift shops and cafes, you probably would not have enough time to see the winery too.

Therefore, I recommend you might try "The Cellar" a Jazz Bar open only on the weekends featuring live jazz and an occasional R&B performance right in the San Sebastian Winery building. It is owned and operated by the winery and displays the colorful art of the painter Edward Sanderson.

See his paintings under the "gallery" tab at the website http://www.sansebastianwineries.com/

The winery participates in the local festivals in St. Augustine and supports the arts with competitions and exhibitions and an annual Fine Arts and Jazz Show.

Every colorful image in this article is a painting by the artist Edward Sanderson - see http://www.sansebastianwinery.com/