Vines that wrap or wines on tap: Two wineries are less then a 35-minute drive away from campus have two different atmospheres as they serve up wine.
Hutchinson Farm Winery
Nestled off a quiet street in Apopka is where you will find Hutchinson Farm Winery. Once you enter through the gates, you can take a walk around and see the vineyards full of Muscadine grape vines wrapping around the posts.
This winery is home to roughly four and a half acres of grapes and another two acres of leased land for blueberries. Sherry and John Hutchinson decided to start selling their wines in 2013 after producing more wine then their friends and family could consume.
“Once the vines are up and running in the vineyard, they will produce any where from 30 to 45 pounds of grapes per plant. It takes 15 pounds of grapes to make a gallon of juice, which is five bottles of wine per gallon,” John Hutchinson said.
John and Sherry decided to make this a retirement business.
“We were both in medicine,” John Hutchinson said. “I was a Physician’s Assistant and my wife was a nurse and when we retired in 2010, we already had our main vineyard and we were making a lot of Muscadine wine but not selling it.”
In order to be able to sell wine you have to have everything built – In John’s case the winery had to be done, the tasting room had to be built and he had to get licenses on all the wines before he could apply for the federal manufacturing license that he received in December of 2013 to open up shop.
In Jan. 2014 he started making wine commercially. All the wines from Hutchinson Farm winery are made and bottled there.
While at winery you are able to see the grape growing on the vines, the fermentation of the wines, and then see the bottles being made and labeled. Specializing in Florida Wines made from their Muscadine and Bunch grapes, Hutchinson Farm Winery is the perfect place to sit on the patio and enjoy the day.
They don’t sell food, but encourage people to bring cheese or sandwiches to eat with the wine. Wine tastings are $5 and bottles range in price from $13 to $18. Hutchinson Farm Winery is located at 8061 Stone Rd. Apopka, Fla. and is open to the public Thursday through Sunday noon- 8 p.m.
Quantum Leap Winery
If you have the yearning for a winery with an urban feel, Quantum Leap Winery is your place. Keeping their wines on tap, this it isn’t your typical winery.
Matt Uva, tasting room manager and brand ambassador, describes Quantum Leap as “Napa Valley chic.”
Upon opening the doors you are met with rustic elements such as barrels turned into artwork on the wall and flooring made from wine bottle corks.
Quantum Leap is a sustainable and eco friendly.
“We literally exist to reduce the carbon footprint of the vineyard to table process. The owner David Forrester owned a recycling company and he put into place a carbon impact study when he realized how much energy is wasted just in wine bottles alone. Part of this winery is the result of that carbon impact study,” Uva said.
Uva went on to explain how the Quantum Leap’s main goal is to be as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.
“The whole sustainability thing is what drives everything here. We have our wine on tap. That was illegal when we opened in Florida, so we put together the political action group and went to Tallahassee and fought for that so we could have wine on tap because that is the most sustainable delivery system for wine. We have 26 bottles of wine and a keg. You can reuse the keg at least 200 times so you just saved 5200 bottles from the landfill. Plus the first and glass taste the same. Oxygen gets in the wine and starts to breakdown the wine. This way it’s always the same,” Uva said.
The wines come from all over the world and are shipped to their winery in the most efficient way possible.
Upon entering Quantum Leap looking past the two doors in the tasting room you can see the barrels and tanks in the back where the wine is held and being made.
Quantum Leap offers a wide variety of red, white and sparkling bottles of wine ranging in price from $12 and up. The second Friday of every month is Wine Down where the winery is open until 10 p.m. with live music, food trucks and wine by the glass.
Ghoulish Gathering, a Halloween party, will be held on the Oct. 30 with food trucks, bands, tarot card reader, and a costume contest.
Quantum Leap Winery is located at 1312 Wilfred Drive and is open to the public Thursday and Friday 2-7p.m. and Saturday noon-6 p.m.
