Day Two's Star: LedgeStone/Parallel 44's Frontenac

GREEN BAY, Wi. Area – An early Saturday morning car trip to Northeast Wisconsin was rewarded with a taste of some fascinating wines made with cold climate grapes.

From Madison, the trip to the region just south of Green Bay is about two-and-a-half hours. I started the day at LedgeStone Vineyards in Greenleaf.

Tim Abel has strong opinions that Wisconsin’s wine future is the native cold weather grapes like LaCrescent, Frontenac, Marquette, Frontenac Gris, Edelweiss, La Crosse, St. Pepin, and Swenson Red. These cold-weather grapes were the work of University of Minnesota’s Horticultural Research Center’s Elmer Swenson.

I had heard about Frontenac before my two-day Wisconsin visit but had never tasted the wine. I’ll unabashedly admit I became a fan after tasting the grape in several different styles during my Saturday wine stops.

Abel has a modest operation with limited vineyards, but he's growing all cold climate grapes. He buys some fruit and even uses his tasting room as a bit of a retail outlet for wines of the world.

My first-ever sip of Frontenac was Tim’s 2008 Frontenac Reserve, grown in the LedgeStone Vineyard. The bone-dry red wine has really nice acid and a tart black cherry flavor I’ve not had in any red wine before.

LedgeStone also offers a Rose of Frontenac that had a little more pronounced fruit and even bigger tartness. I loved it.

My first taste of LaCrescent, a white varietal, was equally impressive. The wine had lemon and apricot flavors, a long finish, and big acidity. But the wine was well balanced.

LedgeStone has a little higher price point than the other three visits. Tim’s Reserve is $28 at full retail while the LaCrescent is $22.

A stop an awesome cheese shop not far from Greenleaf split my two winery visits. I bought some artisan Wisconsin cheese at Nala's Fromagerie. Great stuff!

See photos from my Saturday stops here.

Then it was off to visit Steve Johnson and Maria Milano at Parallel 44. The winery is a handful of miles off the Lake Michigan coast near Kewaunee. It is a Tuscan-themed winery that sets down a county road with a 10-acre vineyard out back.

The two are former lawyers taking their case to the consumer wine court with the cold varietal grapes. Steve was more outspoken than any of the other three winemakers about getting these unique wines outside the state. He sees the state’s future resting on the unique varietals and growth outside of Wisconsin.

Parallel 44’s Glacier White was a nice grapefruit flavored, crisp white wine made from Swenson and LaCrosse grapes. It was quite dry with pronounced acidity, but still balanced for $18. The winery’s $13 Tundra White is a combination of Frontenac Gris and La Crescent that was semi-sweet with some peach and honey hints. It’s easy to see new wine consumers scooping this one up.

And being so close to Green Bay, Steve and Maria had to have fun with the region’s cultural history. Yes, they have a wine called “Frozen Tundra!” The iconic moniker most associated with the Green Bay Packer’s Lambeau Field becomes a Frontenac Rose at the winery. The wine is a big seller with sweet cherry and a nice tartness.

I tasted a few other wines and did some extensive interviews. I’ll be doing an over-all story about Wisconsin wine for Palate Press in the coming weeks. I’ll also have a newspaper column or two about this visit and more for the blog.

Here’s a little shout out to Becky Rochester at the Wisconsin Grape Marketing Coordinator for the Wisconsin Grape Grower’s Association. She helped arrange my visits and shared a lot of helpful information. Also, I will post a big photo album from both day's visit Sunday or Monday - so check back!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Frenchman's Wollersheim Wines Set Bar for Wisconsin

Note: Please note a couple of corrections on statistics regarding Wollersheim. I double checked those with Philippe Coquard Monday morning.

MADISON, Wi. – Wollersheim Winery is a must visit for any wine fan in the Midwest. I had done my homework before visiting the Wisconsin icon and had seen photos, but I wasn’t prepared for the size of the operation and estate.

The first vineyards were planted on the site in the mid-1800s. Bob Wollersheim took over the property in the 1970. The state’s biggest winery is now run by Beaujolais native Philippe Coquard, who married Wollersheim's daughter.

I spent nearly two hours with Philippe Friday morning touring the winery, the buildings from the 1800s, and tasting his wines. The gregarious and opinionated Frenchman was extraordinarily generous with his time and knowledge.

See a photo album from the Wollersheim visit here.

Wollersheim produces 52 percent of all the wine produced in Wisconsin. He does have distribution into Northern Illinois and more recently Chicago. One of many interesting points about Coquard’s winery is a single wine caused the explosive growth.

Philippe’s signature Prairie Fume, a Seyval grape wine, has won a list of awards the envy of any winemaker in any state. Prairie Fume has an interesting contrast of orange and grapefruit on the palate. It has a unique richness you don’t normally find in that wine at other Midwest wineries where Seyval is grown.

Wollersheim’s business is dominated by one wine. When he first started making the Fume he bottled about 500 cases. Today the Prairie Fume makes up 32,000 of his 94,000 production. You read that right!

“Our business has grown because of the Prairie Fume,” Coquard said. “Without Prairie Fume, we wouldn’t have anything.”

He also makes beautiful wines from the often-funky Marechal Foch grape. Except Philippe’s Foch has no funk – and that’s a good thing. He is making some great port and a very nice, also award-wining, Rose.

My second stop of the day was a nice drive to Mount Horeb, Wi. The town of 7,000 is known for its Norwegian heritage and charming downtown. But watch out, there are Norwegian trolls everywhere!

A quick aside, I had lunch in a small diner called Schubert’s that has a 100-year history in Mount Horeb. They served freshly breaded, deep-fried cod with Swedish rye bread. I wanted the pie – it was beautiful – I resisted.

Back to the wine. Alywn Fitzgerald’s Fisher King Winery is about to become bonded and take off in a downtown Mt. Horeb location. It will be an urban winery in a small, tourist-heavy little town. It’s interesting because his small effort follows much bigger ones in cities like Portland, Or.

See photos from my Mount Horeb visit here.

Fitzgerald served up a glass of 60 percent Millot (mill-oh) and 40 percent Marquette that he had made at home. It was remarkable in that I’d never tasted the grapes and couldn’t really compare it to any other flavors. The wine was balanced, with smooth fruit and a rich feel on the palate. It was initially quite acidic, but really opened up with just a little time.

The two stops today show Midwestern states can grow different grapes and make very nice wines consumers are going to enjoy.

I learned in just one day Wisconsin is different than Indiana or Michigan, which I visited last summer. The industry here isn’t as mature. Wisconsin hs more than 50 wineries, but like most Midwestern states the growth has occurred over the last decade.

Lots more to come on these two visits in the future. I’ll be doing a piece for Palate Press on Wisconsin wine and will have plenty of material for a newspaper column or two and certainly the blog.

Tomorrow morning it’s up early and off to northeast Wisconsin for stops at LedgeStone Vineyards and Parallel 66 out near Lake Michigan.

In photos, top to bottom: The Wollersheim historic and new buildings. Coquard talking about the bud break in his vineyard. Alywn Fitzgerald with his unique Millot/Marquette blend.
Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Heading to Wisconsin to Check Out State's Wine

Watch out Cheeseheads - I'm ready to rock some Leon Millot, St. Coix, and Frontenac.

Obscure 70s rock bands - or are those really grapes? I'm about to find out.

I'm headed Thursday to Madison, Wisconsin for a quick two-day visit to Wisconsin wine country. I've gotten more excited by the day about the visit as I researched this interesting area.

My two stops Friday feature one of the state's oldest wineries and one of the newest. Wollersheim Winery has such a great story as an institution and an even better story with its current winemaker Philippe Coquard. Philippe grew up in the Beaujolais region of France.

I'll drive down to the picturesque village of Mount Horeb in the afternoon and visit with Alwyn Fitzgerald of Fisher King Winery. He is constructing an urban winery right downtown. It's a big trend across the country and I'm anxious to see the Wisconsin version, which is now under construction.

Because my wine wackiness knows no boundries, I'll get up Saturday morning early and drive about two hour up to near Green Bay. My first stop of the day will be at LedgeStone Vineyards in Greenleaf, Wi.

The second stop will be out near the coast of Lake Michigan and a visit to Parallel 44 - yes, on the same parallel as Bordeaux and Tuscany. But being near Green Bay, wouldn't you just guess that they DO HAVE a wine called "Frozen Tundra!"

Bring on the Leon Millot, St. Croix, and Frontenac - I've never tasted the three but can't wait. I'll be tweeting throughout both days as signal permits at: @howardhewitt

I'll probably check in on Facebook. I plan to have a blog post up each night if at all possible about the visits. Hopefully, those post will be with lots of photos.

Of course, the interviews and material will be shared in coming weeks on Palate Press, my newspaper column and here!

Frozen Tundra!!!! I can't wait to try it!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

Wine Event For College Seniors Great Fun

Sharing your passion with others is a big part of the fun for me with this whole wine thing. I led a session for 20 Wabash College seniors Wednesday night on basic wine education, protocol, etc.

The guys paid $10 each for a session organized by Career Services. We talked alot about the basics of wine, wine in restaurants, how to taste and evaluate wines for your palate, wine/food pairings, and took lots of good questions.

The wines I poured for them were Ortman 2009 Chardonnay, Sauvion 2008 Vouvray, Cloudline 2008 Pinot Noir, Ortman 2008 Cuvee Eddy, Spellbound 2008 Petite Sirah, and B.R. Cohn 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon.

It's always interesting for me at the end of any group tasting to learn the group's favorites. There was no clear cut winner Wednesday night but a good number of guys suprised me by picking the Vouvray. The biggest winner was probably the Ortman Cuvee Eddy, which is a Syrah, Grenache, Mouvredre, Petite Sirah blend.

A freshman photographer on the college newspaper, which I advise, shot photos for me. Check out Ian Bamgardner's great photos here.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com