WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and SportsWinery says harvest looks good after late dry spell
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PRAIRIE DU SAC (WKOW) - At the vineyards of the Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, grapes are cut, collected and crushed.
All part of the winery's busy annual harvest.
"Crazy from 6 am until 10 pm," says wine maker Phillipe Coquard.
The collection is two weeks behind schedule because of a cool, gray Summer.
Still, Coquard says the recent dry spell turned the season around.
"It's one of the best year's we've ever seen!" He says, "the less water the less concentration, the concentration of the fruit the flavor, the color, the intensity of the wine so drier is a better vintage."
The grapes are then juiced, pumped into a vat to distill then some are aged in barrels before bottling.
Like these grapes, the demand for Wisconsin wine is growing.
"We went from a dozen wineries 20 years ago to 47 wineries right now," Coquard says.
Wollersheim processes about 100,000 bottles of wine a year.
That's double what they did a decade ago.
These wine tasters show the boost has to do with the rising demand for local products due to a slumping economy.
"It afforded a good afternoon and it's convenient because it isn't too far from home," says Susan Cox from Kenosha.
"Its like 20 miles from Madison so its a nice local venue," says Ashley Shade from Madison.
"We've had a lot more visitors because we have more people staying local, looking at what there is to do in their backyard, we've had a lot of people visiting from local places," says winery owner Julie Coquard.
Wollersheim expects to go through nearly 115 tons of fruit making wine this season.
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