Floridian Getaways 2008 - (Page 6) shorts WHAT’S NEW Take a Northeast Florida Factory Tour By Garland Pollard, Karen Galvin Homestead Winery Takes a Tropical Approach New First-Class Stamp for Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Two years ago, when Peter and Denise Schnebly held the groundbreaking for their Schnebly Redlands Winery, it rained. And rained. And rained. And the Schneblys, as well as the MiamiDade County officials who came, got wet. “This isn’t good,” Peter Schnebly remembers thinking. The solution? The Schneblys made sure that the entire complex was covered with Florida-thatched tiki huts (15,000 square feet, to be exact) so that wherever visitors went, they were under roof. Located in Homestead, between the Everglades and Biscayne National Park, the winery opened in March 2007. It takes a total Florida approach to wine making with its tours, tasting room and water garden. Wines are not made from grapes but instead from tropical fruits such as passionfruit and mango. A Royal Poinciana mural is painted on the ceiling. Instead of a European look, the winery features waterfalls, mahogany doors and gardens with 50 varieties of bananas. Schnebly says that he purposely “built it as if it were 100 years ago.” For instance, the waterfalls and walls are made of local coral rock, dug up right below the property. “You can’t do it wrong,” says Schnebly of the local approach, including the coral. “Every way it looks great.” See: Schnebly Redlands Winery, 305-242-1224, www.schneblywinery.com Want a different sort of tour? The Jacksonville area has a number of factory tours open to the public: • The Budweiser Brewery Tour and Gift Shop shows the brewing process from the mixture of ingredients all the way to bottling and packaging. • At Irene Parfums and Cosmetiques Lab, visitors can create their own fragrances and see perfume making. Select from a large number of bases, parfum chemicals and natural oils to formulate a unique scent. • Peterbrooke Chocolatier, open since 1983, offers tours of its Peterbrooke Production Center in the historic San Marco neighborhood of Jacksonville. See: Peterbrooke Chocolatier, 904-398-2489; www.peterbrooke.com; Irene Parfums, 904-641-5171, www.ireneparfums.com; Budweiser Tours, 904-751-8116, www.budweisertours.com. Yet another Florida author has a stamp. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling, joins Ernest Hemingway and Zora Neale Hurston in being honored with a first-class stamp. The Postal Service released the stamps (and mugs and other merchandise) in late February at her Cross Creek house, now the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, and her former St. Augustine hotel, now the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum. See: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, 352-466-3672, www.floridastateparks.org; Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, 904-824-1606, www.staugustine-ripleys.com BEACH RACERS: DAYTONA BEFORE NASCAR By Dick Punnett, University of Florida Press Beginning with the first OrmondDaytona Beach races in 1903, this carefully researched book focuses on the earliest races and years of Daytona Beach. By the mid1930s, the beach race course had been replaced by a circular, hybrid course – part sand, part asphalt – that incorporated a section of Highway A1A, which ran just behind the dunes. That track was used through the 1950s; in 1959, Daytona International Speedway opened. 6 Floridians.VISITFLORIDA.com http://www.floridastateparks.org http://www.staugustine-ripleys.com http://www.peterbrooke.com http://www.ireneparfums.com http://www.budweisertours.com http://www.schneblywinery.com http://Floridians.VISITFLORIDA.com
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