A winery is now open in Estero, and they’re taking a new approach to making wine this far south.
"Our passion was to allow people to have an awesome day off by having a glass of wine, relaxing and hanging out, so we wanted to bring that to everyone," said Allison Rick, who owns RAD Winery.
Rick said their 10-acre farm is now in addition to their tasting room at the Miromar Outlets. It’s a place for them to grow their product and for you to enjoy it, but it’s not your typical vineyard.
"So, you can't grow grapes this far south, which is a little difficult because we make all of our own wine," Rick said.
Since grapes can’t grow this far south, Rick said they grow passion fruit and dragon fruit and make wine from that.
"It grows on a post and wire system, just like grapes. Then we'll end up squashing it and or cutting it and then scooping out all the insides and then making it just like we would the process with grapes," Rick said.
Even though they're not growing grapes, you can still get a glass of the more traditional stuff.
"Our first vineyard's up in Michigan, and that's where we grow all of our grapes. Then we produce and make it into wine, then we bring it down here," Rick said.
They have 21 wines to choose from, with options for everyone.
"We have dry white, dry red, some fruity ones, sparkling ones, semi-sweet, sweet, and then we have one that rotates, and we call that the wine in the month," Rick said.
If you're not into wine, they also have two beers from local breweries and non-alcoholic mocktails.
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