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The astonishing growth in consumption and production of wine in this last decade has encouraged the art of winemaking in the strangest places. It had been generally conceded that the very best wine can only be produced in Mediterranean type micro-climates. Yet today you will find vineyards from Iceland to Peru, some producing quite decent products. 

One of the last places you might find a vintner is in the only sub-tropical region of the continental United States in the far south of Miami-Dade County. In fact, this is the southernmost winery in the U.S.A. - the Schnebly Winery, located a few miles from the edge of the Everglades National Park in what is called locally as the Redlands.   

The winery is a creation of Peter and Denisse Schnebly. They own 96 acres and lease an additional 150 acres for their annual harvest. As Peter explained: It is not hard to make wine. It's just hard to make good wine. Over the course of the first seven months we made a couple of good wines and we made a lot of bad wines.  

Now the secret is out. This is not your common or garden grape wine. This is actual wine made with tropical fruits. Carambola (star fruit), mango, passion fruit and lychee are presently utilized for the process. Compared to grapes, tropical fruits possess less sweetness as well as less acidity. The Schneblys add sugar and tartaric crystals to create wines that have an appealing, sweet flavor and a crispness that consumers traditionally expect from the beverage. 

The wines are remarkably good. If you were not to know what you were drinking, you would indeed note a difference, but you would probably be unable to place exactly what it is you taste. I’m sure the last thing that would come to mind is passion fruit and mango.  

Allen Susser, head chef and proprietor of Chef Allen's in Miami, believes the Schneblys are making more than a novelty wine. Besides selling their mango and passion fruit wines at his restaurant, which serves New World cuisine, Susser also likes to cook with them. 

We purchase a bottle of carambola and passion fruit to try on our friends. We know they are not great wine connoisseurs, and also that they are very polite, but to our surprise they unsuspectingly congratulate us on our excellent choice of wine. On showing them the bottles, all are pleasantly taken aback at what they had been drinking. Only one of our guests suspected that there was something different about the wines, but he admitted that he just couldn’t substantiate his feeling. 

A swim in Meganisi, Greece- near Corfu - is a real treat.  Especially on this 100° F  (and then some) day, we three ladies of the boat made a beeline for the beach.   We soothed our sizzling bodies in the sea and swam until we eyed a bar across the bay.  A nice cold beer?….   Hey Michele, do you have any money?   No—You, Marina?   “Not me”. 

I fumbled in my backpack and dug up 3 euros and 20 cents.  “What do you think we can get for this?”  I asked my pals.  “Not much… they groaned.” 

“Well, I have a plan”, I told them, and we donned our sandals and towels and trekked over to the bar.   As we sat down I slapped my coins on the table and told Jannis, the young guy serving us:   “Here’s what we have to spend, what can we get for this?”

Jannis calmly replied.  “Don’t worry about it, order whatever you want”.  

We looked at each other, shrugged and ordered two beers and a coke.  A hour and lots of girltalk later, we reiterated our financial situation to Jannis.  “Really, I meant it”, he insisted.     

When it came time to leave, Jannis was nowhere to be found so we left our money on the table as a tip (the least we could do).   Of course we would simply go back tomorrow and pay our bill. 

It so happened that we left rather quickly and Jannis and the bar faded from our memory.  

Fast forward to 3 weeks later, back in Meganisi.  This time there were only two ladies, but I was determined to make good on our debt.  We marched over to the bar, I showed my crisp 10 euro note and reminded Jannis of our previous visit.  “We’d like a beer and a coke please, and we even have the money this time!”   Jannis frowned slightly and said,  “Yes, now I remember you;  you left money on the table when I said you didn’t have to….” 

After our drinks this time we went to pay Jannis at the bar and he very sternly told us:  “I told you : you didn’t have to pay and you left money anyway, now this time you don’t pay!”  No amount of insistence would budge him.   I don’t think I will ever have the courage to go back to see Jannis, if I come and try to pay for a meal, he might punch me out!    

Anyway, Efharisto (thanks) Jannis!

We sit at a waterfront café enjoying the gorgeous view of the sea while sipping our coffees. A strong west wind makes us marvel at the sailing boats and their captains out there. What strength, knowledge of nature and technical abilities does this sport require to make a boat sail! 

Then we see a sailboat coming awfully close to shore, struggling to get turned into the wind as the sails flutter loudly. No command. The sailboat comes closer, all of a sudden a bang. My thoughts are running: Oh my goodness…What is going to happen to the three older passengers onboard? Are we the only ones watching them? I think we are the only ones watching…. Oh my goodness, another bang as it hits a second boulder.   

I cry out: “They are stuck. I hope they won’t sink? What are we going to do?” In my mind I play out the whole scenario: First I will run into the café and ask them to call for help, perhaps even suggest calling the Coast Guard. Then I will jump in to the water and rescue them… perhaps I will be a hero?  “Oh shoot, now they are really facing the wrong direction.” The boat is leaning and the captain decides to roll in his jib. “What must he be feeling?” The two ladies sit quietly in the front of the boat, not really any help to him… And now, yeah, they cannot move anymore. They sit, grounded.  

Then, out of out of the corner of my eye, I see the true hero of the day. Here he is. He takes off his shoes and jeans, wading through the water towards the boat. He reaches the boat, holds on to the bow and yells commands at the captain that I can’t understand. But the next steps show it all: “Take the main sail down. All right, you move to the port side. Be careful. Now let me move the boat to face the right wind direction so you move into the water channel. Now hoist your main sail again….!” Soon enough he pushes them gently in to the channel and in the right direction. He is breast-deep in the water and waves at them.  I am so relieved and so pleased that there is a real hero to this story. It wasn’t me. I ran to the place where he took off his jeans all laying on a bench.

Right next to his clothes sits his teenage son, watching his dad being a hero! I beam at the son and I congratulate the father when he comes out of the water with a very animated “The true hero of the day is definitely you!” as I look at his foot bleeding, a cut. All cold but happy he says modestly: “I made this very same mistake a couple of times.” He knows these waters well. “If you don’t turn around in time you definitely hit the two boulders before running aground. Not to mention this strong wind….. !”

He proudly introduces himself and his son, and as they walk off to their home he says, “What a sensation!”  I reply: “Yes, and all your sensation is captured on my camera… let me send them to you.” “All right, I'm a local and work at the Paulsen yard.” “No problem.”