Kinda Zennish: Keel & Curley Winery Tour

I’ve wanted to tour Keel and Curley Winery for a while, so of course I jumped at the chance to go to a complementary tour and wine tasting with the Tampa Bay Lady Bloggers in exchang for blogging about the experience. Sounds like a win-win to me!

Blueberry fields!

I actually wrote a post about their Wild Berry Fusion Wine in a infrequently updated wine blog my friends and I created ages ago. (Who knew we couldn’t drink enough new wines to blog consistently? or that by the time the bottle(s) was gone we'd forget to blog at all?) Also, I once bought bottles of their dry and sweet blueberry wines for a taste-test of my own. I like them both by the way, and also the semi-sweet. Back then I preferred the sweet, but now I prefer the dry. I would say that means my wine-tasting ability has matured, but I kind of doubt it.

All of their wines were good, but then it would be difficult to find a wine I don’t enjoy. If you prefer a wine that isn’t too sweet and dessert-y then you would love the dry blueberry and the dry blackberry. They were both wonderful; I will beyond a doubt be buying them again in the future. Since you shouldn’t really trust my ability to not like a fruity wine I’ll tell you that my boyfriend really liked both of them, and his taste usually runs the opposite of mine when it comes to both wine and beer. If we agree on a wine them you need to try it!

The Black Raspberry Merlot was really good as well. Honestly the only wine I was disappointed in was the Key West- Key Lime. It’s one of the ones I was looking forward to trying and it smells divine, but the taste wasn’t what I expected at all. However, it won gold at the 2010 Florida State Fair International Wine Competition so what do I know?

If you prefer a sweet wine them you have to get the Sweet Blueberry and the Tangerine Zinfandel. I actually called that last one candy wine, and I have to admit I was the only one at my table that really liked it. But I REALLY liked it.

The wine I was most excited to try was Monica’s Florida Frost, an ice wine. I’ve read a lot about how excellent ice wines are but have never tried one. It was beyond a doubt excellent. And the boyfriend hated it, so any dessert wine lover would be happy with it. I have to admit, my wine-snob taste buds came out (I only have like 2) and I think that it would be more enjoyable as a full glass of wine. It seemed to be one of those wines with a lot of layers, as you drink it different tastes may come out. I don’t know, but someone may have to get me a bottle for my birthday so I can fine out for certain! At $25 a bottle it is a little out of my everyday wine price range.

April 27-28th will be Keel & Curley's annual blueberry festival. It’s free admission with music and lots of food and vendors. It sounds like it will be a great family event if you are in the Plant City area. They’re even going to have blueberry wine making and blueberry farming and growing tips classes both days. I am very tempted to go Sunday just for that (and the wine of course)!

Last thing to mention, the tour was really neat. The only disappointment was that our tour guide, Sam, said he'd join us at the wine tasing with his Solo cup and he didnt. He was great, it would have fun!