Wollersheim Winery & Distillery

The place has guided tours, you can taste almost every wine for free and for a small fee you can taste at their distillery. They also have events that I’d recommend you check out. This time we went for the Port Release Celebration. We were able to walk through the winery where they make the wine, the tanks and were able to ask questions to the employees. All were quite knowledgeable. We also were able to walk through the distillery and ask questions as well there. I have to say, Jacob did a fine job explaining the stills and how they worked. So neat. Don’t forget to make your purchases as well. You can purchase some cheese, crackers, meat and wine or brandy. You can even eat out on their patio to enjoy the sweet weather and taste of the beautiful fruit that their growing. Definitely a fun two hours.

It’s a beautiful spot, with patio tables and chairs for you to indulge in wine purchased from on-​site, or a picnic. We brought some nibblings, but saw there were plenty of people and families who brought their own spread of crackers, cheese, etc. to enjoy.
The tour itself was sufficient for $ 5, we saw the original building, the fermentation room, and the separate cave where the original founders lived. They preserved as much of the original structure as possible, seeing the old wooden beams and entry door, you can visualize what labor of love making wine back then must have been like. The cave area was more like a museum, and not part of the guided tour.
You finish off in the tasting room where they pour and you swirl a flight of three wines. You can pay for an additional tasting — reds, whites, or ports — for $ 5. We chose to do the additional tasting and it was just that, a taste. They don’t pour as generously as I’ve encountered at other wineries, you maybe get a shot of wine.
My favorite is the River Gold $ 8.50, a sweet white wine with hints of pears.
Tip: As you increase the number of bottles you buy, I believe there is a small savings in buying bulk. If you plan to buy or split a case of wine (12 bottles), you can sign up for their Caseclub. You get discounts for your future case purchase.

WOLLERSHEIM WINERY is more important than one might expect, at least regarding its role in the history of viniculture in America. On two occasions, I took the narrated tour of Wollersheim Winery, and the guide told us that «Count Haraszthy» had escaped from Europe because of political turmoil, and had brought with him European grapes which he grafted on to grape v

Stopped here passing through Wisconsin on a road trip to Minnesota. I don’t claim to know much about wine — don’t ask me about the notes of flavors, the smells, the color, the way it feels on my tongue, you’ll get nothing. I mean don’t get me wrong, I know enough to get by but by no means am I a pro! We signed up for a guided tour, which we were about 45 minutes early for so we spent our time walking around the grounds. We also did our own personal tasting before the formal one that would take place at the end of the tour. Overall, I’d say the experience was a positive one. Very friendly staff, great tasting wine — definitely something for everyone’s taste. I came away with some new wine knowledge as well as 3 bottles of various white wines for the trip home. The only thing that bummed me out was I had hoped that in the dairy capital of the United States, we would have had some CHEESE with our wines! But hey, things could always be worse.

I used to work at BlueSky Vineyard in Southern Illinois, which is absolutely gorgeous. I have very high standards when it comes to vineyards… Wollersheim blew my standards out of the water.
There are two types of vineyards (In all reality there are probably many more types, but for the sake of argument there are two).
1) Mom and Pop vineyards
Pros Cons
Very personal Smaller variety of wine
High level of attention paid to the wine Probably won’t ship
Usually cheaper Unable to handle large quantities of people
2) Larger Commercial vineyards

Pros Cons
Big selection Feels impersonal, like going grocery shopping
Most likely ships SOMETIMES less attention is paid to wine
Offers tours and merchandise Potential for less than helpful staff
Food
You get the idea. My point is that Wollersheim has somehow managed to envelope all the Pros of both types, and none of the Cons.
The staff are very knowledgeable of the wine, they give great tours with tons of information, and they’re all genuinely nice people.
The grounds are one of a kind. Beautiful rolling hills, acres of grapevines, gardens overflowing with bright, aromatic flowers (there are even signs on display near the flowers dictating which flower’s smell would pair best with whatever wine you are drinking.
The selection is incredible. I’ve tasted (and bought bottles of) roughly half of Wollersheim’s current selection, and nothing disappointed. The Prairie Blush is light and sweet. The Domaine Reserve has a wonderful full body teeming with deep berry flavors and a hint of spice. The Sangiovese has an amazing, rich cherry flavors that doesn’t coat your palate. The White Riesling is a summer favorite around my home, and disappears by the bottle at a pretty shocking rate. Finally, the Ice Wine, a total shock. So sweet without being sugary or overbearing. There’s nothing I can compare it to. Other ice wines stampede over your taste buds like syrup. Wollersheim’s is much lighter, with a fuller flavor. Very well done.
I have yet to see the new spirits distillery, but I will be squeezing another trip into my schedule soon to check it out.
My last trip here included my parents, fiancée, brother-​in-​law and sister, and my nephew and stepdaughter. We had an incredible time, and have been talking about returning ever since.

Mid August Wollersheim Winery opened their new Distillery so I had to check it out. For $ 5.00 per person you could sample 3 of their new spirits and keep the souvenir glass. They had 4 different spirits to sample (A brandy, Absinthe, and 2 apple based products). The Absinthe spirit I chose for one of my sample items I particularly liked. The server was educated on all the drinks and discussed them fully. Was a wonderful experience as always at Wollersheim! Beautiful buildings, grounds, seating and atmosphere.

We had a great time at Wollersheim. We arrived with our party of eight and took the leisurely stroll up to the winery. The whole facility has a very European feel to it, rolling hills, original 1800 – 1900’s construction, and grape vines as far as the eye can see.
The place is certainly not geared towards kids, but we brought along a 4 year old and a 7 year old in our party of 8, and they had fun without being disruptive. The tour guide brought them up to «help» in the middle of the tour, which they loved, and they got sparkling grape juice while we were doing our tasting. Our tour guide was funny, informative, and accommodating, well worth the $ 5 pp.
It was a hot, breezy day, so we grabbed a couple of chilled bottles of riesling, some cheese, sausage, and crackers and grabbed a spot by the LOTR hobbit cave :) The vibe is relaxed and calm, so we occupied the kids with some crafts to keep them entertained and enjoyed the afternoon.
The wine is great for the price. Most run about $ 8−9/bottle, and it’s fun to sample the locally grown varieties. The menus identify which bottles are grown from Wisconsin grapes, and aged in Wisconsin wood. Looking forward to coming back to sample the goods from the distillery!

My husband and I are in love with this winery. The property is absolutely gorgeous and the tour is informative. They have a complementary flight (5 samples) of wine. You can purchase additional flights for 2 or 3 dollars each flight depending on which flight you want. They also have a beautiful seating area where you can buy a glass or a bottle of wine and sit outside to enjoy it.
They have a huge selection of wines to chose from and the staff is more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

Wine is in the eye of the beholder.
I’ve been to a lot of wineries around the world. This would not be a place I would go back to. If you like the wine here then that’s great. I will not go back. The only reason I didn’t give it 1 star is that the people here are nice and I think they run an efficient operation, but the wine is not to my liking. For those who are interested, my favorites are Orin Swift and Alexander Valley cabs. Also the grounds have been renovated so there are some nice views. If you look towards the ‘cave’ it almost looks like the Shire from LOTR.
The wine is generally priced $ 10 – 12 a bottle which I think is fair because it doesn’t taste good. The tour takes an hour, but I’m not sure why; we didn’t do it. There are free tastings which was a good deal and then we paid for 2 tastings in the other room– that wasn’t a good idea. Some of the pourers were better than others. Some didn’t even present the wine so I couldn’t even tell what grape it was or have a chance to look at the label– just poured and left without a word.
They are opening a distillery next door that focuses on spirits. Maybe those will be better than the wine. We stopped here on a whim. I would not go back.

My wife and I decided to get my mother in law a gift card to visit Wollersheim. We’ve had some of there wines and we’ve always liked Prairie Fumé the most.
The wine tasting room and retail area is really nice and spacious. We went on a Saturday in December and only a few people were there. They have many choices of wines to choose from.
We plan on going back to try a tour ourselves.
Good wine, beautiful winery store, close to Madison make this place a great choice for something to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Wollersheim’s wine nurtured our wine-​lovin souls for the remainder of our trip and that makes it all right!
Absolutely stunning grounds featuring grapes (of course!) — but seeing grapes in Wisconsin was such a treat since the whole drive up, all ya see are farms full of corn and soy beans.
There was a really cool painted bull on the premises too… and yes, I took it by the horns without hesitation!
When we got in, they asked if we would be taking the tour which included a free tasting. But, we were on our way to friends so, we had to decline. I really did want to see the cave though.
The tasting glasses were adorable and realistic for a tasting. Our winetender chick was simply a pourer and didn’t have much to offer for describing their wines, which was fine with me but kinda bugged my man. He wanted to learn more about their grapes.
I wasn’t a fan of their infamous Ice Wine at all. it was musty and weird.
We left with about 6 bottles that we fully enjoyed for the next few days.
I highly recommend a pit stop here if you ever find yourself in Prairie du Sac! (like, who the hell ever finds themselves in Prairie du Sac?)

In 2012, Wollersheim Winery won Winery of the Year at the San Diego International Wine Competition. It has also recently been featured on the Today Show and Trip Advisor for being a great winery to visit that’s off the beaten path. If you are visiting Wisconsin, this is definitely a great spot to visit.
The winery is open to the public from 10am-​5pm. They have tours every hour starting at 10:15am and the last one at 4:15pm, but make sure you get your ticket 10 minutes before the tour so that you’re able to join the tour in time. Weekends in particular have really full and busy tours, so if you are able to visit during the week that would be best.
I’d recommend first going on the tour if possible, then it’ll be more worthwhile sampling the wine when you’ve learned more about the history of the winery. The winery is both very old and very young — the vineyard was first purchased and built in the 1840’s by Agoston Haraszthy, the founder of Sauk City. However, since the vines brought over from Europe couldn’t handle the Wisconsin winters, the winery wasn’t very successful. It went through a few other owners, and then the Wollerheim family bought the winery in 1972 and with the help of a Frenchman in the 1980’s, they discovered which vines would be best to produce quality wine that could survive in Wisconsin.
The tour itself comprises of an intro video, seeing the original horse carriage door, walking past the vineyard, viewing the production plant, standing in the wine cellar with the oak barrels, and ending at the sampling table.
At the sampling table, there is a complimentary wine flight that includes:
— Praire Fume: they were known for creating this crisp semi-​dry white wine
— Chardonnay: Double fermented dry white wine, so it doesn’t need to be chilled
— Sangiovese: very unique dry red that doesn’t taste like other red’s I’ve had before
— River Gold: THIS WAS MY FAVE! I love sweet white wines, and this one had a hint of floral scents
— Wine Port: Also a sweet sipping white wine
Other wines that my sweeter palate preferred were: Dry Riesling, Blushing Rose, White Riesling, and Domaine du Sac. Ended up leaving the winery with a bottle of River Gold for a sweet white and a bottle of Domaine du Sac, which is a dry red that’s both made with grapes grown on the estate and were also barrel-​aged. My friends also left with a bottle of Dry Riesling and Prairie Fume as well.
Overall, we had a very positive and lovely experience at the Wollersheim Winery going on their guided tour and sampling. We also wandered around the premise to check out the newly renovated wine cave and sensory garden. I highly recommend coming on a tour if you get a chance.

I’m not even a wine person and I have got to say this was the most enjoyable winery visit I have ever been on. And now I think maybe I will become a wine person!
First off the place is beautiful. On a bright sunny day, get a glass of wine and sit out on their patio. Perfect!
They offer tours everyday so it’s pretty convenient to try to fit one into your schedule. And it is an affordable price. Lots of samples are offered and if you want to try more you can buy additional flights. I found several wines that I liked and they have certainly earned my business as a customer.
They offer a little booklet for you to write down notes of which wines you like. I am going to hang it on my fridge so whenever I need a wine for a food pairing I know exactly which one to get and one that I actually like! Instead of a gamble like I usually do.

Always a great experience at Wollersheim. If they had wi-​fi I could have checked in, but there is no AT&T service in their location. Maybe it’s best we kick back on their beautiful grounds with a bottle of wine and engage in face to face conversation rather than be tethered to social media, eh?
We stopped in for a glass today while on a bike ride. In the odd mood for something crispy and white on a hot summer day, I chose the Prairie Fume and my hubs had the Dry Riesling. We very much enjoyed both.
I’m a self-​proclaimed wine snob, especially when drinking a heavy Cabernet. We’ve always enjoyed the wine at Wollersheim. They source grapes from CA and other places to make some of their wines. It doesn’t all come from their local vines, which makes for a wide array of offerings.
The grounds are clean and beautiful and a lovely place to enjoy a picnic and a bottle or two.