Sunshine State
Island Grove Wine Co. · Est. 2010 · Hawthorne, Florida
Florida fruit wine, EXPLAINED
Taste is where Island Grove writes things down: what blueberry wine actually tastes like, what to put next to it on the plate, and why a can beats a bottle once you’re on the water. Written by people who live here, about wine made from fruit grown here.
Stories from the cellar
Sunshine State
How Long Does Canned Wine Last?
Island Grove puts 12 to 18 months on a sealed can. What that actually means, and why where you store it matters more than the date printed on it.
Sunshine State
How to Keep Wine Cold in Florida
Ice alone isn't doing what you think it's doing. How to actually keep wine cold in Florida heat, what each bottle wants, and when to stop bothering.
Blue Roots
How Blueberry Wine Ends Up Tasting Like a Real Red
Fruit wine has a reputation, most of it earned. Here's how Island Grove's blueberry wine gets around it, and why the trick is older than you'd think.
Blue Roots
What Actually Goes With Blueberry Wine
Nobody hands you a pairing chart for blueberry wine. Here's what works, from a guy who mostly eats off a grill.
Sunshine State
Is Canned Wine Actually Good? An Honest Case for the Can
Wine snobs love to hate the can. Here's why they're wrong, and why canned wine might be the most Florida-friendly format there is.
Sunshine State
What to Drink on a Boat That Isn't Beer
Glass breaks. Corks go overboard. Here's what actually works on the water and why canned wine is the answer nobody talks about.
Fruit wine, made by fruit farmers
Island Grove Wine Company grows what it bottles. The farms came first — two north-central Florida blueberry operations that merged in 1995 — and the winery followed in 2010, built to use fruit that was perfectly good but never going to make a grocery shelf. That order matters more than it sounds. Skin-contact fermentation, the thing that gives the Kinda Dry its tannin, only works if the skins are worth fermenting on.
The range runs across four collections: Blue Roots for the 100% blueberry wines, Sunshine State for the canned sangrias and moscatos, plus the Island and Sparkling lines — in bottles, on draft, and in 250mL cans.
This site is the plain-English version: pairing guides, honest takes on canned wine, and Florida stories that happen to have a drink in them. More about the winery, or see the cans.