Wisconsin? Wine?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was in northern Wisconsin recently. Door County to be exact. That's the little peninsula north of Green Bay that juts into Lake Michigan. At this time of year, the area is crawling with vacationers so what better place to locate a few wineries, right?

This was not my first time in the area and I have sampled a few wines there before. So on this occasion, I took time out to only stop at one and that was Simon Creek. From my recollection, it was the best of the bunch I'd visited before.

As you head north on hwy 42 toward the quaint little towns closer to the tip of the peninsula, you'll pass through Carlsville. Not much to it, but there are huge signs leading up to it for a place called the Door Peninsula winery. It's right along the highway and is likely to lure you in, but skip it (trust me) and instead turn right and drive off the main road about 3 miles to Simon Creek.

What's a bit odd about this place though is that it's easy to believe that the wines are produced from local grapes. Even some of the back-of-the-bottle verbage hints that it's a great place to grow grapes. In fact, though, all the wines I tasted were made there, but the juice hailed from California, Oregon and New York. The guy pouring the tastings indicated the juice for the wine I liked the best, the "Untouchable Red" made with Ruby Cabernet, apparently came from Napa. And yet, it's labeled "American Ruby Cabernet".

Regardless, the place in general is very well done and all the wines I tried I thought were pretty good. If you're up there, take the side trip off the main road.