Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards

We were pleasantly surprised. Great place to stop along the way. Nice views and very educational. The wine was also super yummy. Came away with 6 bottles. Hahahaha

I guess my subjective rating of five stars is as much based on my taste in wine as to it quality from Lakeridge. My taste does run toward the sweeter side which this winery produces in abundance. My particular favorites are the Sunblush, Southern White, and Chablis. So looking at these, I seem to fall in the middle of the sweetness spectrum of wines available here. We were fortunate enough to have arrived on a day when they were having a BOGO special. Buy one case of wine and get the other case free! This brought our average cost per bottle down to approximately $ 6.00!

The free tasting is a great way to sample all wines. The picnic area is a beautiful, spacious park-​like atmosphere to enjoy live music and a glass of wine. Relaxing afternoon out!

Outstanding establishment, showed up five minutes before closing and staff welcome me in and help me find a wine to my liking, liked so much purchased four bottles. Thanks guys will return

Ok for wine but great for a tour and entertaining tasting. Nice facilities and friendly staff.

This place is stuck in the 80’s. They really need to freshen up their look, tour, & product display/​store. I don’t think they should force you to sit thru their educational video which is in a dark/​dismal church-​like room! It made everyone fall asleep watching it, to the point that the host needed to make a joke to wake up! The owner should go to Napa or Sonoma, CA and take a page from one of those wineries book, and see how much they can make this place better!
The wine is not very good either, it has a weird smell to it and is SUPER sweet!

We’ve been to Lakeridge many times, and I always insist on doing the (at times tedious) tour simply because the free tasting at the end is so generous. Seriously, eat beforehand friends. The shop has the usual winery clutter, but a few fun additional items (the mulling and sangria spices are hard to find other places). Take advantage of the case discounts here because they always have a special going and it is well worth it. Especially since they don’t sell my favorite (the crescendo pink sparkling) anywhere but the store. The real fun of this place is the festival grounds and stage which are so much fun. When we went last there were at least four separate food vendors each smelling better than the last (gyros, tacos, and kielbasa? I’m never leaving this place).

My boyfriend and I woke up late one morning and instead of going to Universal like we had planned, we decided to do something different. I’m so glad we did! We took the tour with Shep. He was amazing! He’s extremely knowledgeable, funny, and obviously passionate about his job. We stayed for the tasting (of course!) and found all of the wines to be very smooth. Even the dry wines were on the sweeter side. We’ve been to their sister winery up in St. Augustine, San Sebastian, and the wines weren’t as sweet. We bought a case of wine, plus a bottle, a case of their grape juice, and some of the mulled wine bags. All in all, we were very happy with our experience and we will be back!

Our tour guide Shep is a wealth of knowledge!
They produce over 500k gallons and they sell some of their grapes to places like Duchman Family Winery. My Texas Unilocalers that is right, Duchman Family Winery’s Swim Spot from Blanc du Bois is made with grapes from Lakeridge Winery!
Lakeridge Winery uses drip irrigation and sometimes micro sprays and does not use insecticides. Our tour guide walked us through their process. Reds are fermented in their skins for several days before being pressed. Then they rack them, use cold stabilization, refine, and filter before they are bottled. Their sparkling wines are originally still then they add yeast and sugar then ferment them for 6 weeks upside down to expel the yeast. They use stainless steal because of their volume & barrels cannot be outside. They have worked with the university to develop hybrid grapes that are both drought resistant and insect resistant. They also use natural corks.
When it came to the tasting I found the wines sweeter than what I normally drink. They do not charge for the tasting and the wine is reasonably priced. Their Blanc Du Bois was my favorite. The property was beautiful in the springtime and would make a great spot for a romantic afternoon sipping wine in the vines.

Beautiful to visit. Wines are fairly sweet, but they have so many interesting tastes.
They offer multiple events with live music that they hold throughout the year including a grape stomping contest. I personally haven’t been able to attend one yet, but have heard great things.
The tour and Wine tasting is free and is definitely interesting to learn about their wine process (plus free wine!)
Highly recommend for just a nice day out.

My honey woke me up from a nap & said, «Let’s go». We were on vacation with family but he scooped me up & took me here as a surprise, I had no idea where the heck we were headed in this somewhat rural area of Florida, but enjoyed being surprised. It was a nice drive up there. Upon arrival, they show you a short film in the beginning about the History of the family who owns it and then take you on a tour of the Winery which ends with a wine tasting. Did I mention it was Free Ninety Nine ??? Of course we bought some bottles at the end, but there is absolutely no pressure to do so. We also were given free gift for our Unilocal Check In which I believe was a wine opener. I love my husband and he knows I am a Wineaux and loves me anyway LOL

We came for the wine festival. The festival was boring at best. the food an entertainment was gross and annoying. A few sponsors were there, but unless you’re a local you can’t participate. The wine tour was the best part. This winery has a huge assortment of wines and even pairs with other local wineries to sell wine. The staff was nice and friendly, and the wine was tasty.

Special weekend event to help Boys and Girls Club. $ 2 donation. Took the wine tour which included a short video. Got to taste about eight different wines from Lakeridge. Did not like the port

The wine is not the reason I go to Lakeridge. The weekend events in the warm months are enjoyable. There are concerts outside and craft fairs. The wine is OK for many people. Because Florida is suitable for muscadine grapes and not much else, the sweet wines tend to be people’s favorites. I am not a fan of sweet wine so I do not care for their wine.
It is worth a visit, especially if there is an event.

The festival this year was my first. If you are going for the shade and music, best bring your own chair! We arrived before 10:00 and were lucky to pick off the last two that were provided. (There aren’t many!) Don’t count on you being so lucky! Loved all the shade trees and the vibe of the event. The kiosks for shopping-​browsing help keep my bottom side from going totally numb and returning home with all my hard earned money.
The wine tasting experience thru their winery was swift, as my pallet prefers the dryer wines. Hey but we did agree on a Port! Unilocal «Check in» got be a free foil cutter.
We left just before the two buses of really vintage aging folk were disembarked. So do go early! Cause it was getting stupid crowded (for me) on our way out.
We did not eat at the event but a couple of vendors had some good looking choices.
A Loo review = okay– They use those trailered air conditioned potty units that this early in the event, were still okay. (we left early)

In compete love with this place. I never thought that they’re could be a full Vineyard in Florida! I am not a wine aficionado but I can definitely attest to the fact that I left this place with a newfound appreciation for it! The staff s very friendly and knowledgeable as we were taken on a very detailed tour of the facilities. I learned about the many different grapes and what turns them into the wines that we love. Because of that, I bought quite a few bottles of their award winning wines. I hope you guys enjoy!

Love this place! Great atmosphere for the whole family. I brought my kids and went thru the tour and my 13 year old said mom I had no idea how the process of making wine or grape juice until now. Very informative tour. Went thru the wine tasting and love the Southern Red Wine! That was my favorite my suggestion is pair it with some chocolate! The Sunblush was my second favorite with some cheese. At the end of the tour they give the kids grape juice. The kids loved it so much I had to buy some. We will be back for the grape stomping.

Who knew Florida had hills and vineyards? Not me! But I’m happy to have found out.
You’ll enter inside into their store where you’ll find not only their wines for sale but many drink related products. If you’d like to take the tour (which I recommend doing before shopping) just head up the stairs to the right as you walk in and wait for the next one to start. You’ll watch a 10 minute video where most of the information is delivered. Then you’ll walk briefly through the area that holds the fermentation vats and then outside to view the vineyard from their upstairs patio. Not too much information is discussed after the video… mostly viewing. The entire tour, including the video, was only a short and sweet 20 minutes. Right after the tour you’ll have the opportunity to taste about 7 – 8 wines, mostly sweet, as they only grow a sweet grape. It was explained that their few dryer wines are from a hybrid grape grown from a partnership with the University of Central Florida. I’m not a huge wine fan but I enjoyed the Southern White the most.

Got there during one of their monthly festivals. Thousands of people but this wasn’t their first rodeo. For the most part things moved smoothly. Wine tasting was great. Video for tour was interesting. Great gift shop and staff helpful even tho the place was packed. Prices not bad for tourist place. We checked our wine packages so didn’t need carry while we visited the food and craft booths. My only complaint was the seafood line had 2 areas marked «order» but they were letting people order from other places. So ORDER line took forever standing in the hot sun. Shrimp was good but $ 15 for 6 shrimp on skewer.

This is the largest winery in the state of Florida and by that mere fact it’s quite an impressive facility. It’s use of native and hybrid grapes provides the distinct complexity or simplicity that most people label as «sweet». Even the red dry varieties have strong sugar undertones that would make any Cabernet, Pinot Noir, and Merlot drinkers skeptical.
My personal opinion after tasting eight different wines is that Lakeridge produces the best wine that these grapes are capable of producing and exhibits the quality of a really good to great table or dessert wine.
I really didn’t land on any particular one that I can say did it for me. I do think there are a lot of wine drinkers who prefer these lighter sweeter wines that will absolutely be thrilled with a number of these wines. I recommend serving all these wines chilled cold with the exception being the dryer red should be served in the lower 50“s (just my opinion) I don’t feel any of the wines can stand up to being served at ambient temperature.
Although the location is a little remote it is impressive how many people find themselves here each weekend walking the grounds, taking the tours and enjoying the free wine tastings. I guess since there are only 16 winery’s that call Florida home this is considered the Napa Valley of the Deep South. (I’m kidding lol) Lakeridge Winery and their employees are great supporters of the community on this particular visit they were hosting «Corks for Cancer» and were offering a BOGO on all their wines in stock that was an incredible savings I saw some of the wines as cheap as $ 98 a case that’s 24 bottles for under a hundred bucks that’s crazy pricing and believe me plenty were taking advantage of the sale. Over all great experience very festive for a great cause plenty of food, music and wine of course.