Activities : Sturgeon Bay

Door Peninsula Winery
5806 Hwy. 42
Sturgeon Bay
www.dcwine.com
800-551-5049

The Door Peninsula Winery is a feast for the senses.  Here, people can see, taste and smell wine.  The business is housed in a restored vintage schoolhouse, where the Door Peninsula Winery brand wines are showcased and sold.

The Winery also features a modern 14,000 square foot addition, which was made to the building in 2005. The addition includes the Vineyard Restaurant and Wine bar. 

But it’s the charming schoolhouse façade that will most likely catch your eye.  The 1868 vintage schoolhouse served first through eight graders for nearly 100 years. In 1974, the building was renovated and the Winery was established. Even today, the Carlsville Schoolhouse, transformed as a Winery, is still a place where kids learn. 

“We welcome children. We try to have something for everyone,” said Jaime Forest, the winery’s marketing and promotions director.

A Winery tour is kid-friendly with a “cartoon cherry” host on a short video. The walking tour is kept short in light of limited attention spans and busy vacationers’ schedules and are offered daily year-round.

The 20-minute tour includes a stop in the schoolhouse’s basement, which was the original winery fermentation area.  During the tour, people also see the lab, bottling line and large tanks where wine is stored.  You can get a free pass to the tour by clicking here!

“You have an opportunity to watch as work is going on,” Forest says.

More than 50 varieties of fruit, white and red grape and sparking wines are made here. And about 150,000 gallons are bottled annually.

The tour ends in the tasting room, where adults may sample the bounty.  Here, a wide range of wines pleases all palates.

A personal favorite of this reviewer is Door Peninsula Winery’s Blackberry Merlot.  This is a full-bodied blend that brings together a dry red wine with a sweet fruit wine to make a smooth dinner or dessert wine.

One of the recent releases is Sunset Splash, a sweet blend of white wine, apple and cherry with flavors of pineapple, mango and lemon.  Also popular is Hallowine, an apple and mulled-spice blend, which is offered for a limited time. Try warming this one, as well as the Mulled Christmas Wine, before serving, Forest advises.

Forest and other Winery staffers are excited about soon bottling wine, made from their own harvested grapes on a five-acre plot just south of Carlsville.  Expect to taste something different from these hybrid grape vines that tolerate a Wisconsin winter freeze. An example is LaCrosse, which will produce a dry white wine that’s incomparable to other wines, Forest says.  

The Winery also makes it simple for people to purchase the wines year-round.
Through wholesale relationships, the Door Peninsula Winery brand is on the shelves in grocery stores and retail outlets throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and in Minnesota as well.  Or you can even join their Wine of the Month Club!

Door Peninsula Winery is also a site for events such as educational programs on wine pairing and tasting.  The Winery has won a number of awards over the years as well!

And don’t forget to marry a visit to the Winery with lunch or dinner at the Vineyard Restaurant or a drink at the lovely Wine Bar, where piano music fills the air. A “Wine Spectator” award-winning wine list presents 160 selections.

“We offer Supper Club prices with an elegant approach. We help people choose off the wine list, too. That can be intimidating,” Forest says.

We agree that the Door Peninsula Winery has a way of warming people up to the whole winery world. From its quaint setting in an old schoolhouse to its fun tours and welcoming feel at the tasting bar, the Door Peninsula Winery is a great place to discover wine and an intriguing locally operated business with regional presence.

So tour the Winery, and after you have a taste and bought a bottle or two, please tell them DoorCountyNavigator.com got you there.

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