About Us

BENNET BODENSTEIN

High Vacuum Engineer: Senior Technical Adviser and Feature Writer for Modern Photography Magazine (1967-1973), co-founder of Together Vineyards, an experimental vineyard in South Florida which was the southern most registered vineyard in the Continental United States. Co-Author of several books on Home Wine Making, Home Beer Making and Distillation of Spirits. Co-owner of Camera & Video Repair Institute in Sunrise Florida.

SHEILA BODENSTEIN

Graduate Dietitian: Co-founder of Together Vineyards, an experimental vineyard in South Florida which was the southern most registered vineyard in the Continental United States. Experimental chef, specializing in the development of low fat low cholesterol and fat free foods and pairing them with wine. Co-Author of several books on Home Wine Making, Home Beer Making and Distillation of Spirits. Co-owner of Camera & Video Repair Institute Sunrise Florida.

Sheila and Ben Bodenstein have been married since 1963 when Ben asked Sheila to marry him less than one minute after they were introduced. They began to dabble in wine about fourty years ago. When they moved into their South Florida home they devoted several sections of their land to the growing of grapes and other tropical fruits. Unfortunately at that time, there were only four varieties of grapes that would survive in South Florida; Lake Emerald, Blue Lake, Stover and Rocaneuf. They contacted the University of Florida and began to test new hybrids which were developed specifically to grow in Florida. Where there are grapes, there will be wine. The move from grape growing to wine making was inevitable and so they learned the wine makers art. Like Topsy, their interest and knowledge in wines “just growed.” The acquired knowledge was transformed into several books dealing specifically with grape growing and wine making in Florida.

In 1987, their knowledge of wines came to the attention of the editors of Gold Coast Update Magazine and they were asked to write a monthly column on fine wines. The column was soon picked up by Life Style Magazine and Social Magazine where they ran for several years. In 1991, the column was picked up by the South Florida Newspaper Network. In 1999 the South Florida Newspaper Network was purchased by the Fort Lauderdale Sun- Sentinel and the name changed to The Sun-Sentinel Community News Group and then changed to The Forum Newspaper Group, where their column currently appears, in many of the groups 26+ newspapers, on a weekly basis.

In February 2005, they became the wine columnists for the prestigious PARKLANDER MAGAZINE, a magazine sent to all of the 12,255 homes in the very upscale and exclusive City of Parkland Florida

In June of 2007 they moved to Nixa Missouri and became the wine columnists for the SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI NEWS-LEADER a newspaper serving the entire Southwestern portion of Missouri, including the popular resort city of Branson Missouri.

Their column also appears in the following newspapers: Sikeston Standard Democrat (Southeastern Missouri: Weekly);Carthage Press (Southwestern Missouri: Weekly);Boonville Daily News (Central Missouri: Weekly);Daily Dunklin Democrat (Southeastern Missouri: Weekly).