Wollersheim Winery

We had to check out of our resort today so we booked a hotel room in Madison near the airport for the night. We left the Dells in the afternoon and headed out to explore some of the areas I thought would be interesting and educational.

The girls were quite excited.

The drive to Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac was all rural with acres upon acres of cornfields and farm animals. I took quite a few pictures on my quest to becoming a farm photographer.

We arrived at the Winery right at the start of the tour. The vineyard is located on a hillside overlooking the Wisconsin River outside of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. The tour started with a DVD of the history of the vineyard.

The first owner was a wealthy Hungarian Count who eventually sold the vineyard after experiencing too many harsh Wisconsin winters. Peter Kehl, a German immigrant, took over the property and built the present buildings during the Civil War. He planted grape varieties and sold his wine in small barrels. After his son's death, the family converted the farm to produce more conventional crops.

In 1972 the Wollersheim family purchased the property and began restoring it into the present-day vineyard.

The next part of the tour led us up the hillside to the grapes. Here the grapes receive good sun exposure and a nice airflow from the breezes off the river. Because the hill allows good water drainage the grapes due well. Each row of grapes represents the five different varieties that eventually become the wines. The grapes were quite plumb, but it usually takes 4 years from the first planting for the grapes to be ready.

From there we hiked down the hill and viewed the stainless steel tanks that hold the grape juice as it ferments. We watched another DVD that explained the winemaking process. After the grapes are picked by hand they are put into a machine that squeezes them and stores them in the tanks below. The tanks are temperature-controlled and are checked frequently.

Once the wine is ready it is stored into oak barrels for aging. We trooped down into the limestone cellar to view the barrels and listen to the history of barrel making.

The barrels are used about four times each and because red wine stains the inside of the barrels white wine is stored in the first year.

After viewing the sleeping wine we went upstairs to the tasting area. There we tasted five of the wines that are made on the property including their famous Prairie Fume. We were introduced to the art of wine tasting first eating dry crackers to clean the palate. Secondly, we learned how to hold the glass at the stem, how to tilt the glass to check for color and clarity, how to smell the wine, and how to taste it. We graded the wine on a card so that we could purchase those varieties that we enjoyed.

I didn't much care for the Fume, but Tom gave it the highest rating of 5. I preferred the Prairie Blush and I enjoyed the other reds that I tried.

Our tour guide allowed us to taste any of the wines that Wollersheim makes, and she encouraged us to lastly try the port. We weren't really expecting to enjoy it, but we loved it. Unfortunately, because we were flying we weren't able to purchase any wine to bring home. Planning on checking out the website when we return.

We strolled through the wine store and sampled some of the cheeses and dips that they also produce and left with a slight buzz. Darcy and Madison weren't able to sample the wine, but they had several bags of crackers and sampled the non-alcoholic grape champagne, which I also thought was delicious.

We left the vineyard in the late afternoon and headed out to drive to our next adventure.