Sebring’s Secret Gardens Winery & Farm Sharing the Fruits of Its Labor
by PAUL CATALA
The Murrays live and work in a secret garden they want everyone to know about.
The Murrays – Rick and Valerie and their daughter Alexa “Lexi” Murray – own and operate Secret Gardens Winery & Farm Inc. in Sebring. It’s a 33-acre farm, vineyard and winery between Sebring and Lake Placid of which 23 acres are set aside for farming and wine production and 10 acres are open to the public.
Although the focus for the Murrays at Secret Gardens is the vineyard, winemaking, and agritourism, they also welcome those who have a penchant for locally produced wine and want to see how it gets into their glasses.
Alexa Murray, who lives on the farm, says at Secret Gardens Winery & Farm, guests can walk across the 5½ acres of vineyards, of which 4 ½ acres are Carlos white grapes and the rest Noble muscadine red grapes. She says that’s 10 acres to “wander around,” get a glass of wine, walk the vineyards or go inside a 3,000-square-foot barn and do a wine tasting.
Murray adds if she or her parents aren’t too busy, they’ll also take guests around the property. There are also up to five seasonal, part-time employees, and a food trailer kitchen is being leased to gourmet chef Amy Freeze.
“We’ve done tours with companies, ag-tours with the (University of Florida) Extension office, but not regular formal tours,” Murray says. “It’s more of like, I would say, a self-tour, so if (visitors) want to go through the vineyards and they chose to do a tasting, we don’t charge entrance to come onto the farm.”
Prior to opening Secret Gardens, the Murrays didn’t have any roots in agriculture or farming. What they did have was an extensive background in engineering, industry, and construction. In 2009, the family purchased a small 20-acre farm with views of the countryside and good soil. Over the next 10 years, Rick Murray renovated a small existing farmhouse residence as a retirement project and turned farming into a family business.
With Alexa, the Murrays started to adapt and make plans for Secret Gardens to become part of the state’s agritourism industry.
“We like to think of ourselves as a destination and we’re happy to take the time to educate the people about our products and what we produce and what we do,” says Murray, a Miami native who moved with her parents to Lake Placid when she was 2 years old.
She says Secret Gardens specializes in fruit wines and the main agricultural product is muscadine grapes. The winery produces up to 5,000 gallons per year, the equivalent of 10,000-20,000 bottles of wine.
In addition, Secret Gardens works with H&A Farms in Mount Dora to obtain blueberries for wine and some elderberries are grown on the Secret Gardens property to blend into wines.
In addition, the Murrays also work Georgia peaches and fruits common to the north — such as cranberries, blackberries and apples —into their products
“We specialize in these fruit wines, but our main agricultural product is the muscadine grape,” Murray says.
Secret Gardens is considered a “boutique winery,” so its product distribution is pretty limited to the Central and South Florida area. Other nearby wineries produce much more volume.
“We’ve made the decision at this time, until we can amp-up our production and invest in more tanks, not to distribute. So, we’re direct to the consumer,” she says, adding that they also ship their wines, which have statewide prestige.
In 2020, Secret Gardens won the “Commercial Award” from the Florida Grape Growers Association for its elderberry wine. In 2022 and 2023, the winery was selected by Highlands News-Sun newspaper as Highlands County’s “Best Winery.” The company also won the Guidetoflorida.com “Best Regional Winery” in the “Best of Florida” poll in 2022 and 2023.
Murray attended the recent Florida Agritourism Association state conference in Gainesville along with more than 150 others from around the state.
She says that in September they’re opening “Heritage Kitchen at Secret Gardens Winery,” farm-fresh dinners Thursday through Sunday. She says there are also plans to release two new wines, peach and cherry, double the production of blueberry and elderberry wines, and they hope to get new wine vats and tanks installed by the end of 2025.
In addition, she and her parents will be starting a wine club in January 2025 with three months of seasonal wines so northern visitors and seasonal residents can participate at the winery through discounts and special programs.
“We are about to hit five years in business, and we are always thinking of new ways to expand in the agritourism industry while staying true to our roots and our mission,” she adds.
