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Wednesday, March 18, 2009
An Adventure in Wine
On Saturday, March 7th, we decided to attend the Wollersheim Winery Open House. Frank and Diane had attended in 2008 and really enjoyed it and thought we might too. So we all loaded into Frank and Diane's new minivan (only one small mud puddle incident and a change of pants on the way into the van) and headed over to Prairie du Sac, WI.
Self-guided Winery Tours went on throughout the entire day along with other classes and talks: Grapevine Pruning Demo, Cooking with Wine Demo and Winemaker Phillippe's Talk. We timed our visit so we could do the self-guided tour first and then sit in on the Grapevine Pruning Demo.
Of course, my favorite part about the Self-guided wine tour was that we were able to have samples of wine all along the way. Our first sample was the Prairie Fume.
Of course, it couldn't have been a beautiful day for this...that would be too easy. It was dreary with a fairly steady sprinkling rain. We had to walk between buildings at times during the tour. Diane would race ahead of us since she had Capri in the umbrella stroller. Above is a picture of some of the grape vines!
Another taste test - yum! This time our sample was of the White Riesling. I would give you my opinions on the wine but I am by no means a connoisseur and I honestly don't remember which one was my favorite...I just know I was having free wine!
Oh wait! I take that back, Prairie Blush, was my favorite. I typically like Blush's because they are sweet...this was no exception.
Another picture of the winery...
Wollersheim had there bottling production working to bottle water during our visit. This is always my favorite part of tours...I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I am a brewery/winery tour expert. Growing up, if there was a brewery/winery/jack daniels tour to go on...we were there! My family traveled A LOT and all over the country! My parent's may have to correct me on this but I've been to the breweries in Wisconsin (LaCrosse, Milwaukee, and Chippewa Falls), Coors in Colorado, Jack Daniels in Tennessee, a Robert Mondavi Winery in California, the Budweiser place in St. Louise (?) and I'm guessing I'm missing some...all have to have my parents refresh my memory. The difference this time (and at Leinenkugel's in Chippewa Falls) is that I am finally old enough to sample the product! (Oh and Jack Daniels is made in a dry county so no one gets to sample that!)
Oooh! Another sample! This time it was 'Prairie Sunburst Red.'
And one final FREE sample! We ended with a taste of Wollersheim's Chardonnay.
Ice wine is a very fine and concentrated sweet estate wine and is intended to be enjoyed for special occasions. The weren't giving away free samples of this unique and special wine but I did pay for a sample. Very good, very sweet and you only need a little to be satisfied!
In one of the areas they had a coloring table set up for the little ones. Cedi enjoyed it as we looked around and we were sure to take her picture home with us!
If you can't read the sign it says, "Shhhh...Wine Resting"
Capri and I did not attend the pruning lecture. It was an inside power point for 45 minutes and then a jaunt into the actual winery. Not really suitable for a one year old. We hung out in the gift shop for a little while, she charmed many of the employees and when she had enough we headed out to the van to play. She had a good time climbing around in it with out being trapped in her car seat.To find out more about this wonderful Wisconsin winery make sure to check out there website, http://www.wollersheim.com/. Or if you are in the area the winery is open daily from 10am to 5 pm daily. Tours are also run daily at 10:15, 11:15, 12:15, 1:15, 2:15, 3:15, and 415 and cost $3.50 for adults, children 11 and under are free. Please see their website for more tour information!
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2 comments:
Oh, how fun! Random fact, touring Wollersheim has been on my "to-do" list for awhile. I've heard it is a beautiful vineyard.
Also, I highly recommend their River Gold. I typically go for dry red wines but this is by far my favorite sweet wine. I think you'd like it.
Hey - Great report and it looks like you had a nice visit! Excellent photos too! I just ran across your blog and saw the Wollersheim reference. I work with the winery and help with marketing. I'm glad you tried the ice wine - it's such a rare treat that I hate to see people skip it. Did you see that the Prairie Fume' (white) is celebrating a 20th Anniversary this year? It is the best selling Wisconsin wine and has been responsible for the Wollersheim success.
Thanks again for your visit. I hope you'll come back in summer when it's really pleasant to sit out on the terrace and watch the eagles soaring over the bluffs & Wisconsin River.
Gary Knowles
(Madison)
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