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 mos
t 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.
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 mos
t 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.
1 comment:
Jay, this is a really great idea. I've been a huge fan of Gary Vee at tv.winelibrary.com, but he's obviously not going to review all of OUR local wineries.
Looking forward to what you have to say about the various locations.
Matt Z.
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