September/October • 2021 • GASPARILLA MAGAZINE 71
It’s about a two-hour drive from Boca
Grande to Duette, but taking the long
way is worth the drive. Inland Florida
has been kept much like it has always
been for more than 100 years, with
fi elds of cows mixed with Brahman
bulls, some of the most majestic, mosscovered
old live oaks you will ever see,
and many towns that aren’t more than a
church, a cemetery and a little general
store.
Along Bunker Hill Road outside of
Duette you’ll fi nd Bunker Hill Vineyard,
a beautiful patch of land owned by
Larry and Lenore Woodham,
a couple who seem very
different from each other
after getting to know
them, but who both
focus on the quality of
their wines, jams and
jellies with an intense
passion. Lenore
answers questions
with a staunch logic
and a succinct
amount of words,
but it only takes a
few minutes into
the conversation
to see the twinkle
in her eye and
the warmth of
her smile. Larry
has no problem
conversing
about almost
any subject
and has the
knowledge
to back it up.
He seems
like he was
a CEO or an
international
businessman of some
sort in another life, but he stops
short of telling you about his early
years (though Lenore did admit they
both held corporate positions prior to
starting this business) … it’s the wine
that matters now.
The buildings on the vineyard
grounds include their home, the
“wine cave” where their wine is vented
(cellared), the
workshop/store/
wine tasting facility
and a few storage
buildings. Much of
the 23 acres they
own, though, is left
wild for the animals
and native Florida
fl ora.
Of course, there are
vineyards there, as well
as large gardens for
the other fruits and
vegetables they
grow to make
their unique,
homemade
wines. If they
can’t grow what
they need on
their farmette, they
outsource only to
other local farmers.
In other words, every
sip you take or bite
you put in your mouth
comes from food that
was grown within a few
miles of their place. The
couple planted their fi rst
harvest 26 years ago, and
their fi rst batch of wine
was bottled in 2009. They
opened the doors to their
business a year later.
“It takes a long time to get
good, mature grapes,” Lenore
said.
Now, they have more than 40
varieties of wine, from traditional
sparkling wines, reds and
rosés, to sweet onion, magnolia,
dandelion and tomato. Lenore said
some of their wines are perfect for
cooking, as well as drinking. Their jams
and jellies include fl avors that mirror
their wines.