Door County Wineries

I recently did an internet search of 'Simon Creek Winery' to compare my review of the winery to other's. I stumbled upon a very interesting blog from someone who currently lives in California and who visited Door County for the first time. The author of the blog describes himself as... "a sommelier, consultant, collector, writer, traveler, and all around wineophile." With his permission, here is his blog posting about his Door County experience from earlier this year. His blog can be found at http://www.eatdrinkordie.com/palmnut.

DISCOVERING THE TERROIR OF WISCONSIN (...WISCONSIN?)
By: Palmer Emmitt

In June, late on a Friday evening, or rather early on a Saturday morning, as I was driving at ludicrous speeds north from Green Bay towards Bailey's Harbor, Wisconsin for a friend's wedding, I noticed a peculiar billboard touting the Winery of Door County. Wine? In Wisconsin? How odd... How intriguing... How exciting!!!

As I drove deeper into Door County, more omens of a coming wine adventure began to emerge - first another billboard, this time for the Door Peninsula Winery, and then a little sign beckoning me towards Simon Creek Winery. I began to ponder what grapes could be grown on this little sliver of land in the middle of Lake Michigan, and what sort of wine they could make from this obviously fertile soil yet probably unfavorable climate. I was determined to discover the nature of Wisconsin's terroir. When I informed various people gathered for the wedding of my intentions, I was met with plenty of skepticism. "The wine here is terrible," said the groom.
"They import the grapes from California," said the bartender at the hotel. "Let's play another round of golf," said my father. But I was undeterred. If there was one wine in Wisconsin made from homegrown grapes, I was going to find it and taste it, no matter the quality. If it was quality I was interested in, I would've sat at the Top Deck bar all weekend ordering consecutive bottles of Sea Smoke Ten for $105 (an outright steal...). No, I wanted to taste the product of the local earth and see what it had to say for itself. Alas, no one else shared my enthusiasm for this foolish quest. So on Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast of flapjacks and meatballs at Al Johnson's Swedish Pancake House, I set out in my rented Nissan Sentra, alone but for my trusty GPS Betty.

I soon realized that Betty too was leaving me high and dry on this journey, as none of the local wineries were in her directory, nor were the roads on which they resided. But no matter, I trudged on, remembering vaguely where I had seen that little white sign for Simon Creek Winery heading the other direction at 2 am two nights before. Luck was on my side as I found Simon Creek without incident. There were indeed grape vines on the property, although somewhat sickly looking and oddly trellised - an inauspicious start for my opinion of Wisconsin viticulture. But the winery looked nice enough and I kept an open mind as I approached the tasting room bar. The first offering was the 'American Viognier' which had a nice attack of citrus, but a hollow mid-palate and a very light body for a viognier. "Is this grown here?" I asked hopefully. "No. We import these grapes from California," came the reply. Bummer.
Next I tried the 'American Gewurztraminer' which was shockingly sweet (I wasn't ready for that...) and a little cloying, but undeniably delicious. Alas, this too was made from imported grapes, so I asked if they had anything made from Wisconsin grapes. I was told that the winery was only 5 years old, and that their vines were not yet producing fruit capable of making wine. Two red wines from imported grapes were poured next, the 'American Merlot' and the 'Untouchable Red,' both of which were heavy on oak and fairly dull. But the story of this winery and the Wisconsin terroir had at least begun to reveal itself to me, so I was unbothered by the sub par wine. First, I found out why the vines out front looked so sickly - a long cool winter had only recently broken, with the vines awakening from dormancy to sprout leaves on only the first weekend of June. With such a short growing season, the traditional grape varieties will never be able to ripen in Wisconsin, so it's necessary to plant hybrid cool climate varietals. The owners at Simon Creek did their research into what varietals were growing well in similar cool climates (such as Michigan and New York's Finger Lakes) and planted 20 of them - many of which I'd never heard of - on the property. The black grapes planted there include Marechal Foch, Frontenac, Leon Millot and Baco Noir, while Seyval, LaCrosse, Chembourcin and Espirit were among the 13 white varietals.n My palate was in need of a pick-me up, so I opted next to try the 'Door County Cherry Wine,' grown "about 2 miles down the road," said the pourer excitedly. Door County is known for their cherries and their cherry wine didn't disappoint either, with a really pleasant and delicate mouthfeel, a smooth and not overly sweet mid-palate, and the unmistakable taste of Cinnaburst - a gum which ironically a friend and I used to age in my father's cellar. Seriously. I bought a bottle and was on my way to the next winery, happy to have tasted something new and unique, but still hoping to find a wine made from native grapes.

Not far down the road was the Door Peninsula Winery, an amusement park of local food and drink products. 50(!) wines were on offer here, mostly of the fruit variety, but when I asked for a locally grown grape wine my prayers were answered! First, I tried the 'LaCrosse,' a well-balanced white wine with decent acidity that danced across my palate with a kind of dirty grapefruit flavor - not the best thing I've ever tasted but not a bad start either. I'd rather drink it than nearly all of the mass-produced pinot grigio I've had in my life. Next I sipped the 'Marechal Foch' - another varietal that I'd first heard of at Simon Creek. This light bodied red wine was just not capable of withstanding the ample dose of oak that it was subjected to: it was dry and basic with a little vanilla bean being the only standout flavor. While that was it for Wisconsin grown varietal wines, there were a couple of unique blends that certainly sounded like good representatives of the terroir - the 'Peninsula White,' a blend of 75% seyval blanc and 25% apple; and the 'Peninsula Red,' a blend of 60% "red grape" and 40% cherry. The white tasted like liquid applesauce, while the red showed hints of cinnamon (there it is again...) and was well balanced but ultimately unspectacular. I initially hoped that the "red grape" was a Wisconsin grown varietal, but later detective work proved it to be imported cabernet sauvignon and merlot - 'Peninsula Red' was something of a misnomer. Having exhausted the local grape wine selections, I figured I'd see if Door Peninsula's cherry wines could stand up to the one at Simon Creek. First I tried the 'Dry Cherry' which was refreshingly crisp and reminded me of strawberry shortcake. It would be a nice alternative to rosé on a summer afternoon. I ended my visit to Door Peninsula Winery with what ended up being my favorite of their wines by a long shot, the 'Cherry Port,' which tasted like a good LBV Port infused with Luden's Wild Cherry cough drops. Mmmmmmm!!! Very tasty, very unique, and very Door County.

Though I had little time to spare before my groomsman duties commenced, I felt my quest was still incomplete, and that Wisconsin's terroir had something more to offer me. I stumbled upon Lautenbach's Orchard Country Winery & Market and snuck in for one last quick tasting. Here too were a smorgasbord of fruit wines, but again to my delight a couple of Wisconsin grown grape varietal wines were mingled into the extensive list. I started with the red 'Audrey Grace,' made from a blend of estate grown Marechal Foch and Frontenac. It was light bodied but lively on the palate, with some really complex, earthy flavors - fairly impressive. Next came the 'Nathan John,' an off-dry blend of Marechal Foch, Frontenac and 10% cherries. It was pinot noir-like in its approach and had a long, delicious finish. Orchard Country Winery: 2 for 2!
While that was the last of the estate (and state) grown grapes, I was encouraged so much by their quality that I thought the fruit wines must be special as well. The 'Natural Dry Cherry', made from 100% Door County Montmorency cherries, seemed like a good enough place to start. Now when a place starts naming cherry varietals, you know they're serious about their fruit wines. This particular effort had a really intense nose of my mother's wood burning stove around Christmas time - she boils a concoction of clove, cinnamon stick and orange peel in an old teapot - and had more body weight than the others I'd tried earlier in the day. It was bone dry, palate coating but not syrupy, and was interesting despite surprisingly lacking fruit flavors.
I went for the 'Autumn Harvest' next, a medium sweet blend of cranberries and apples that smelled not surprisingly of an apple orchard during harvest. The flavors were straightforward as well - cranapple juice but exceedingly fresh and pure, with a long perfectly balanced and delicious finish. Then the 'Swedish Lingonberry' called to me, partially because I had tasted my first lingonberry juice at Al Johnson's that morning, and partially because it seemed 'authentic.' It smelled like raspberries flambé and tasted rich and exotic - another winner. I finished off with the super sweet 'Raspberry Lyte' which blended raspberries with chenin blanc. In a weird coda to the day, this smelled and tasted of another favorite chewing gum from my past, this time Red Raspberry Bubblicious. Awesome!

I ended up with a half case of Wisconsin wine products that I'd somehow have to figure out how to fit into my checked luggage, some great memories of my awkward lonely quest, and a slight hangover. So what did I learn about Wisconsin's terroir? Well, I think that much of the region is making exceptional wine products from local cherries, but that they're just starting to learn how to make decent grape wine. At it's best, it will be capable of producing light bodied wines from cool climate hybrid varietals, whose best expressions contain earthy flavors, cinnamon, and, of course, bubble gum...