Wine tasting near Miami sounds like a category error. There is no cool-climate hillside within a thousand miles, the soil is limestone and sand, and the growing season is the opposite shape to everywhere that grows grapes seriously. What is actually forty-five minutes south of downtown is stranger and more interesting than a vineyard: an agricultural belt called the Redland where the fruit is tropical, the winery ferments mango and lychee rather than grapes, and the surrounding farm stands are half the reason to make the drive.
This is a farm-belt day rather than a vineyard day, and the farm stands run on their own seasonal calendar. Ask Karpo what is open in the Redland today before you drive an hour south.
What the Redland Actually Is
The Redland is the agricultural district that sits between the southern edge of suburban Miami-Dade and the northern edge of the Everglades, named for the red clay-like soil that sits over the limestone. It grows things almost nowhere else in the continental United States can: mamey, lychee, longan, carambola, jackfruit, dragonfruit, and a long list of avocado and mango varieties that never reach a national supermarket.
That agricultural base is what makes the winery here make sense. If you are going to ferment fruit into wine anywhere in Florida, it should be the one place in the country where the fruit is genuinely unusual, and that is the argument the Redland has.
The Winery, and How Its Hours Actually Work
Schnebly Redland's Winery and Brewery at 30205 SW 217th Avenue in Homestead is the anchor. It ferments wines from South Florida fruit: mango, lychee, passionfruit, guava, carambola, coconut and, yes, avocado. The Grand Tasting Room runs to about five thousand square feet in a Southern agricultural style, opening onto a tropical courtyard with more than twenty thousand square feet of connected tiki structures, and Miami Brewing Company operates on the same site.
The hours are the thing to plan around because they are dramatically uneven. Monday to Thursday it runs noon to 5pm, which is a short weekday afternoon. Friday and Saturday it runs 11am to midnight, a thirteen-hour day. Sunday it runs 11am to 8pm. That is not a small variation: a Tuesday visit and a Friday visit are effectively two different businesses, and the evening version with live music only exists at the weekend.
The tasting itself is structured rather than free-pour. The tour runs thirty to forty-five minutes through the facility, and you choose five wines to taste and keep the glass. Weekend afternoons carry live music in the courtyard, scheduled through late December 2026.
The Farm Stand That Makes the Drive Worth It
Robert Is Here at 19200 SW 344th Street is the other half of this trip and arguably the better half. It has been a working fruit stand at the southern end of the Redland for decades, it opens 9am to 6pm every day, and it closes only on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. That is a far more forgiving schedule than the winery's, and it is the one address down here you can rely on without checking.
The milkshakes are the famous item and they are famous for a reason: they are made with whatever tropical fruit is actually in season, so a mamey shake in one month and a key lime one in another are not menu variety, they are agriculture. Go for the fruit you have not heard of rather than the one you have.
The Seasonal Catch Nobody Mentions
A significant share of the Redland's most-loved businesses are seasonal, and September is at the wrong end of that season. Knaus Berry Farm, the cinnamon-roll institution that generations of Miami families drive down for, closes entirely for the summer. It reopened at a new Redland location under new ownership in December 2025, and reported dates for its subsequent season start have been inconsistent across sources, so check directly before building a trip around it.
More broadly: this is farmland, and the visitor season here runs roughly from late autumn to spring, tracking the harvest and the weather. A September Redland day is hot, humid and thinner on open stands than the same drive in January. That is not a reason to skip it, but it is a reason to call ahead rather than assume.
How to Structure the Day
The sensible shape is a weekend one and it runs south to north. Start at Robert Is Here in the morning while it is still bearable outside, buy fruit you cannot identify, take the shake. Drive north to Schnebly for a midday tour and tasting, which puts you indoors during the hottest part of the day. Stay into the afternoon if it is a Friday or Saturday, when the courtyard has music and the room runs late.
Logistics worth knowing: this is a car trip with no realistic transit alternative, the drive from downtown Miami runs around forty-five minutes to an hour depending on traffic, and if you are tasting, the driver question needs answering before you leave rather than after. It is a long, rural, unlit road back north.
Practical notes
Schnebly Redland's Winery and Brewery, 30205 SW 217th Ave, Homestead - Monday to Thursday noon-5pm, Friday and Saturday 11am-midnight, Sunday 11am-8pm; tour runs thirty to forty-five minutes with five tastings and a souvenir glass; tropical fruit wines including mango, lychee, passionfruit, guava, carambola and coconut; Miami Brewing Company on site; live music weekend afternoons scheduled through late December 2026. Robert Is Here, 19200 SW 344th St, Homestead - daily 9am-6pm, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Knaus Berry Farm - closed for the summer, reopened December 2025 at a new Redland location under new ownership; confirm current season dates directly. Around forty-five minutes to an hour from downtown Miami; sort the driver before you go.
Tags: #winetastingnearme #redland #homestead #schneblywinery #tropicalwine #miamibrewing #robertishere #knausberryfarm #miamidaytrip #farmstand #southflorida #mango #lychee #miamiguide
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Ask Karpo first
Redland businesses are seasonal, the winery's weekday and weekend hours are completely different, and farm stands open and close with the harvest. Ask Karpo what is open in the Redland on the day you are free, what the drive time south looks like right now, and whether the weekend courtyard programme is running.
