Family Fun at the Wollersheim Winery

Three weeks ago some family from my mother's side in Illinois came up for the weekend. Normally it works the other way around - we're always driving down there but it isn't too often that they come north. Part of this is due to the nature of farming, and part of it is due to the fact that there's many, many relatives in central IL while there's just four of us in Wisconsin. Regardless of the reason, it was nice to have them up. The group consisted of my Uncle Chuck, Aunt Linda, cousins Jake & Jeff, and Jake's fiance Mary. They came up Saturday morning and I made my way down. Best of all, my sister managed to come down from Shawano, so it made for a full house.After a delicious lunch consisting of barbecued pork sandwiches from Hoesly's in New Glarus and fresh cheese from the Paoli Cheese Cottage (ELK used to work there!) the ladies drove over to New Glarus to check out the bridal shop while the menfolk drove up to Paoli to look at the industrial juggernaut of Paoli, Kelsch Machine Corporation. After these gender-defined excursions we regrouped and made our way up State Highways 92 and 78 to Prairie du Sac and the Wollersheim Winery. I happen to work in Prairie and I have driven past the winery hundreds of times. I've purchased quite a few bottles of Prairie Fume over the years. I even know a decent bit of the history of the winery from some of the assessments I've done in town. But I've never actually been to the winery itself. I'm happy to say that error has been rectified, since the winery tour offered at Wollersheim is not to be missed. The winery itself is steeped in history and is located picturesquely on a bluff overlooking the Wisconsin River. It's even listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Above is a view from the main winery buildings toward an old cave dating to the initial development in the 1870's. We made it just in time to catch the last tour of the day. We briefly walked outside to view the grounds. The winery is currently in the midst of an expansion so there was a bit of fencing up. We walked through the facility and saw the wine-making tanks. We also got to see two of the aging caves.Following the tour was the tasting. I particularly enjoyed the Domaine du Sac. We ended up buying about 15 bottles of different wines, three of which were promptly enjoyed once we had returned from dinner at the Dorf Haus in Roxbury. Here's a picture of Erika hauling away the spoils as we were leaving.