Vines & Rushes Winery

I have been meaning to come here for ages since I first discovered that my hometown had a winery! What a wonderful experience and the service (thanks Kim) was impeccable! I bought several bottles and preserves and took them all the way back to California with me and now I have to plan my next trip home to buy more! Highly recommend this place for anyone in the area or traveling through!
As someone who has gone to multiple wineries in California, the fact that they do not charge for tastings is quite the selling point! It shows the quality of the product they’re selling because after the free wine tasting if you do not buy a bottle (or two or six) then you’re missing out!

Generous tasting session and very informative. Chuck was an awesome host for our tasting. Great stories to go along with the tasting. Beer options would be an added benefit in the future for the winery to consider.

This is a great little gem just outside of Ripon. Ryan is very knowledgable and dedicated to his wines. The commitment to only having Wisconsin grown grapes and keeping it demand oriented.
If you are around Oshkosh or Fond du Lac, you have to stop here for some good wine that vary across the spectrum and a real treat of hard cider.

A friend and I came out for a recent tasting and musical afternoon, and it was pretty nice. They had free tastings of all their wines except the ice wine ($ 3 tasting fee), so we tried several each and then purchased a glass to enjoy while listening to the live music. They had a bunch of tables set up, so we could sit down comfortably, sip our wine, and chit chat, making for an enjoyable afternoon.
The person helping us taste was helpful without being pretentious, and made some recommendations based on what we liked. I’d like to come back during the growing season and actually see the grapes! Next time I need a Wisconsin-​themed gift, I’ll definitely come to Vines & Rushes.

I’m not a huge wine fan, but I do appreciate good alcohol, local flavor, and supporting area businesses, so when my mom’s gardening club had one of their meetings at Vines & Rushes, I tagged along. I didn’t even know there were any vineyards in this area (yeah, I know, I need to do more research), let alone ones that were producing their own wine, so it was nice to see a thriving little winery within an hour of my hometown. We were given samples of all of their different wines, from dry whites to sweet whites, and dry reds to sweet reds. Again, still working on cultivating a palate for wine, I wasn’t a huge fan of most of the reds, but I did enjoy their Frontenac Gris and Brianna — both dry whites.
Being with the gardening club, one of the owners (and president of the grape growers of Wisconsin) gave us an in-​depth tour of their vineyards and explained every step of the grape-​growing process starting with collecting the initial plants. They talked about how they raised each type of grape and how they ensured the plants’ survivals, how they maintained proper growth through selective pruning, and how they helped dying plants rebuild from new shoots. It was all very thorough and interesting and I’d return to try their wines again once I further my experiences with wine.

The winery is on the right side as you’re driving north from Ripon, just before you reach the Prellwitz produce.
They offer free tastings on all their wine, from driest to sweetest. They aren’t at the point yet where all their grapes come from their own vineyard, however they do all come from Wisconsin. They use the northern varietals such as Frontenac and Marquette, so it reminded me a lot of the wines I tried in Vermont. If you’re expecting European or Californian varietals you’re going to be disappointed. I rather liked all the wines I tried. I ended up purchasing the Frontenac sweet red, the Marquette Rosé, and Frontenac Gris semi-​sweet white. My family generally prefers the sweeter wines, though I thought the Brianna was excellent as well.
They do offer special tastings and events, such as cooking classes, live music and painting classes Unfortunately I couldn’t make any of their events while I was there, but the «Chef’s Tasting» where they paired food with their wines sounded really good.
They said sometime in the summer an icewine may be available, and I was planning on stopping by again in July to check it out.