WOLLERSHEIM WINERY, INC. Wisconsin Vineyard
WOLLERSHEIM WINERY, INC.
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Our Heritage Just across from Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, the Wollersheim Winery sits on a scenic hillside overlooking the Wisconsin River. This national historic site was first selected for vineyards in the 1840's by the Hungarian Count Agoston Haraszthy. Following several years of disappointment with winter damage on his vines and unfortunate politics, he followed the gold-rush west in December of 1849. Haraszthy's activities are well documented as he eventually became known as the founder of the California wine industry. After Haraszthy left, a German immigrant, Peter Kehl, took over the property and established the present buildings during the Civil War period. Peter Kehl planted conventional American grape varieties plus Riesling, which he buried every year to protect from Wisconsin's winters. Following Peter Kehl's death, Kehl's son Jacob continued the family winery, installing a still for fortifying spirits. He sold his wine in small barrels to customers as far away as the state of Maine. Jacob Kehl operated the Winery until his death in 1899. At that time, the family stopped winemaking and converted the farm to more conventional Wisconsin crops. In 1972, Robert and JoAnn Wollersheim purchased the nearly abandoned property with the intention of restoring it to a working family winery. The hillside slopes were again planted with vineyards, the underground wine cellars were refurnished with oak barrels and the upstairs made into a wine store for Wollersheim wine to be available for visitors. In 1984, Philippe Coquard arrived from the Beaujolais region of France. Philippe had grown up working with his two uncles at the family wineries and has degrees in winemaking, viticulture, and wine marketing. Philippe later became winemaker and also married Bob & JoAnn's daughter, Julie. The legacy of family lives on as Philippe and Julie Coquard, are now running the winery. In 1990, Wollersheim Winery bought Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and added Cedar Creek brand to its line of wine. Cedar Creek Winery is located in an old woolen mill that has large cool limestone cellars. Some of the wine production is done at the Prairie du Sac location where there are stainless steel tanks with double-jackets for temperature control and an automatic bottling line. The cool cellars at Cedar Creek Winery are ideal for barrel aging wines. Wollersheim wines continued to expand and the introduction of Prairie Fumé in 1989 helped the Wollersheim brand gain respect. With 20 different grape wines from dry to sweet, annual production of Wollersheim and Cedar Creek wines has risen from 15,000 gallons in 1987 to now over 240,000 gallons. Most of the wines are marketed in Wisconsin with the majority being sold at the Prairie du Sac and Cedarburg locations. This regional winery has received numerous awards for its wines and has gained recognition as a leading winery in the Midwest. As the wines continued to grow, so did the buildings with several expansions to increase wine production capacity built in the past fifteen years. In 2008, one-hundred fifty years after the original winery building, the winery continues to "build on tradition" and has opened the first expansion dedicated to more visitor space. The 15,000 square foot addition includes tasting and shopping areas, as well as an expanded area for tours. The old winery store is converted to tasting areas as well as historic displays. The new store and upstairs event room have beautiful views of the hillside vineyards. A balcony and outdoor wine garden are a nice place to enjoy a glass of wine spring through fall. The tradition continues.... Our Founder - A Tribute to Bob Wollersheim
WOLLERSHEIM WINERY, INC. PO Box 87, Prairie Du Sac, WI 53578 Winery: 7876 Hwy 188, Prairie Du Sac, WI 53578 P: (608) 643-6515 F: (608) 643-8149 E-mail: info@wollersheim.com Web: www.wollersheim.com Founded 1857 Bonded Premises: WI-18 Personnel: Winemkr. & Pres., Philippe Coquard; V.P., Julie Coquard Annual Case Prod.: 50,000 - 499,999 Products: table wine, dessert wine Brands: Cedar Creek Tasting Room: Yes Wine Club: Yes Top Varietals: Seyval Blanc, Pinot Noir, Marachal Foch, Riesling, Vidal Vyd. Acres: 27 AVA: Lake Wisconsin Related PostsCOLIO ESTATE WINESGLENORA WINE CELLARS, INC., New York Vineyard and Winery ERATH WINERY, Oregon, Vineyard FIRESTEED CORP., Oregon Winery Stryker Winery-Sonoma | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We were saddened at the departure of winery founder Bob Wollersheim in December 2005. Bob died at age 66 after a two-yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was able to stay active and keep abreast of the winery's news up until the last couple weeks. He died peacefully at home with his family by his side.
Bob also had an appreciation of wine. He grew tired of traveling with his job and wanted to spend more time with his wife JoAnn and three small children Julie, Steve and Eva. In 1972, the family purchased the historic winery property from the fourth generation of the Kehl's, the German family that had built it, and moved to the house next to the winery. It was kind of a crazy idea and a big risk, to move the family from a 1960's house in the suburbs of Madison to an 1850's home in the country with only wood stoves for heat, and an old winery building that hadn't made wine in 70 years. 
Philippe's arrival in 1984 was the start of yet another era for the winery. Even though Philippe didn't speak a lot of English when he first came (originally for six months), Bob and Philippe understood each other very well. Philippe stayed on and took over the winemaking. Not only did Philippe become Bob's son-in-law but they also had a great business partnership. Bob had the engineering background and Philippe had the wine background.
One of Bob's projects in the last couple years was to write a book about the many experiences he had at the winery. As Bob loved the two oak trees next to the winery, he attempted to construct the memory and observations that the burr oak and the white oak have seen over the last 150 years. We don't know if there are enough pieces to put together as a book, but this paragraph from the introduction he wrote sums things up very nicely: