Survey ~ Milwaukee's Best Wine List

During the month of October, Onmilwaukee.com is revealing the results for the best dining options in the Milwaukee-area as voted by their readers. They just recently announced the results for the top restaurant wine lists...

1. Balzac
2. Bacchus
3. Dream Dance (editor's choice)
4. Eddie Martini's
5. Sanford
6. Water Buffalo
7. Carnevor
8. Mo's
9. La Merenda
10. Osteria del Mondo

Here is the complete article... http://www.onmilwaukee.com/dining/articles/bestofwinelist08.html

Wisconsin Winery Review ~ Parallel 44

coming soon.

Wisconsin Winery Review ~ Red Oak

coming soon.

Simon Creek Winery

Simon Creek Vineyard & Winery is a family-run business located in Door County, about three miles east of Carlsville and is open year-round. It's a relatively new winery, having opened for business in 2003. Simon Creek boosts that they are Wisconsin's largest vineyard at 30 acres, however they haven't sold any bottles with their own grapes as of yet. They hope to accomplish this within the next 2 to 3 years as their vines mature. When this happens, their goal is to reach a peak production capacity of 15,000 cases of wine per year. In the meantime, they ship in juice from California and New York. The Simon Creek Winery tour is personal and informative. The tour guide actually takes you down into the lower level where the fermentation and bottling occurs. On the day I went, the guide was the actual wine-maker, who is the son-in-law of the owners, who left his day job in the finance industry a few years ago to join the family business. Before or after the tour, the winery offers a free tasting of five wines. The pours were very disappointing; especially compared to the other three wineries I visited in October. The bottles all have stoppers and I could barely get one good taste in before it was gone. Because of this, I didn't really get a good feel for their wines. Additionally, the selection from which to choose from was fairly thin; three reds, four whites and four dessert wines. Their most popular wines are: the "Untouchable Red," which is a ruby cabernet, an American Gewürztraminer and a Door County Cherry fruit wine. On the day I visited during October, I simply settled for a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon as my lone wine purchase, which I thought was just an average cab. From experience, Simon Creek wines are hard to find around Wisconsin and they admit to doing well over half of their sales directly from their winery store. The store has a very nice, new feel to it, but the merchandise and souvenirs were expensive, just as the wines are probably a little more than they're worth. Overall, I liked the tour of the production process and the chance to speak with the actual wine-maker the best. However, I wasn't thrilled with the tasting, the store prices or the wines themselves. I do look forward to their vines maturing and hopefully being able to sample an Estate wine, when they are able to produce one. In conclusion, I think Simon Creek is a nice place to visit when you are in Door County, but just don’t have too high of expectations for the actual wine.

Wineries of Wisconsin - Map

I found this map on the Wisconsin Winery Association website. It would be nice to have a write-up about each of these wineries on this blog. If you've been to any of these places, please feel free to submit a review to me and I will post it.

Southeast
(5) AeppelTreow, (9) Apple Barn Orchard, (36) State Fair Wine Garden, (8) Vetro, (24) Mason Creek, (6) Cedar Creek.

Southwest
(22) New Glarus Primrose, (25) Wollersheim, (17) Spurgeon, (21) Weggy, (34) Vernon, (23) Burr Oak.

Northeast
(12) Kerrigan Brothers, (14) LedgeStone, (15) Trout Springs, (19) Parallel 44, (1) von Stiehl, (13) Captain’s Walk, (30) Red Oak, (31) Simon Creek, (29) Door Peninsula, (2) Stone’s Throw, (10) Orchard Country.

North Central
(20) Woodland Trail, (32) Three Lakes, (26) Lil’ Ole Winemaker Shoppe, (33) Brigadoon, (35) Munson Bridge.

Northwest
(4) Tenba Ridge, (11) Seven Hawks, (28) Maiden Rock, (7) Autumn Harvest, (27) St. Croix Croix.

Far North
(16) Hook Stone, (18) White Winter, (3) Bayfield

Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to visit my new wine blog. I'm not an expert by any means, but I do enjoy going to wine tastings and having an occasional glass with dinner. My hope is that this blog will serve as a journal of my experiences and that you will contribute to it with yours as well. Please let me know if you have any favorite wine websites, if you've read a good article, or if you would like to share a list of wines that you like or have tried. Together, we can create a nice wine journal (err, cork chronicle) to guide us and to help satisfy our love for wine.