ALTHOUGH CALIFORNIA IS CONSIDERED A PREMIER DESTINATION FOR WINE TASTING TODAY, WINE WAS BEING PRODUCED IN FLORIDA THREE HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE CALIFORNIA BECAME A STATE. AROUND 1565, FRENCH HUGUENOTS NEAR JACKSONVILLE REPORTEDLY CONVERTED FLORIDA’S WILD MUSCADINE GRAPES INTO THE FIRST AMERICAN WINE. RECORDS OF SUCCESSFUL VINEYARDS APPEAR AS EARLY AS 1875, BUT THE EFFORTS OF ONE FRENCHMAN WERE ESPECIALLY NOTABLE. A PREMIUM WINEMAKER AND VITICULTURE PIONEER, EMILE DUBOIS ARRIVED IN TALLAHASSEE IN 1883. HE FIRST ESTABLISHED VINEYARDS ON THE BANKS OF LAKE HALL, NOW THE MACLAY GARDENS STATE PARK, BUT SOON PLANTED VINEYARDS AT THE RUINS OF A COLONIAL SPANISH FORT, THE CURRENT SITE OF MISSION SAN LUIS. AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS VENTURE, DUBOIS HAD PLANTED MORE THAN 100 ACRES IN LEON COUNTY – CREATING THE LARGEST VINEYARD IN FLORIDA – AND WAS MAKING OVER 6,000 GALLONS OF WINE ANNUALLY. ALTHOUGH DUBOIS’ VINEYARDS NO LONGER EXIST, THERE ARE 15 CERTIFIED FLORIDA FARM WINERIES ACROSS THE STATE, WHERE VISITORS MAY STROLL THE VINEYARDS AND WATCH THE WINEMAKING PROCESS.

Courtesy of the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources