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Wollersheim Winery & Distillery
Wollersheim Winery & Distillery
Browsing the Wisconsin wines section at local liquor stores, it’s rare not to see a few Wollersheim Winery products. The 50-year-old winery is synonymous with Wisconsin wine. Their enologist, Celine Coquard Lenerz, is determined to carry on the winery’s legacy in Wisconsin.
Coquard Lenerz grew up in the vineyards. She’s the granddaughter of Wollersheim Winery founders Bob and JoAnn Wollersheim. She’s the daughter of Bob and JoAnn’s daughter, Julie, and Wollersheim’s winemaker Philippe Coquard, who is from the Beaujolais region of France.
For Coquard Lenerz, grapes and wine were natural parts of life. “I helped clean the floor in my little purple boots. I remember running through the vineyard and tasting grapes. As I got older, I was allowed to taste wine with my family,” she reflects. “It was part of our culture and how wine fits together in every part of our lives.”
As an adult, Coquard Lenerz had planned to go into medicine, but hesitated when she went to UW-Madison to sign up for classes. Her advisor showed her other options, which included horticulture. “I realized that was me. I always loved plants.”
As she pursued her horticulture degree, she immersed herself in the science of fermentation and how flavor and terroir all fit together. She studied winemaking at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y, near the Finger Lakes area wine region. Vineyards there grow some of the same cold-hardy grapes grown in the Upper Midwest.
Newly-married and armed with more winemaking knowledge, Coquard Lenerz was ready to join the family business. The Wollersheims experimented with cold-hardy, disease resistant grape hybrids developed by the University of Minnesota’s grape breeding program, and with grapes bred by Wisconsin farmer Elmer Swenson. Coquard Lenerz notes her family started working with Swenson during the 80s to grow varietals such as LaCrosse and St. Pepin white grapes.
“We’ve grown hybrids for 50 years. Back then, people weren’t interested in anything other than chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet, or wines that were traditionally European or from California,” says Coquard Lenerz.
As more consumers seek out local and unique products, Coquard Lenerz credits the Wisconsin Winery Association and the Wisconsin Grape Growers Association with getting names of cold-hardy grapes out in front of consumers.
Since Wollersheim’s early years, they’ve grown Maréchal Foch, a hybrid French red wine grape, and La Crosse and St. Pepin white grapes. Over the last decade, they’ve added Marquette and Brianna. The vineyard has an experimental plot to test grapes for disease resistance.
Newer Releases and Sustainability Measures
Coquard Lenerz is particularly excited about St. Pepin. They’re now using the grape on its own as a dry white wine. It is aged in French oak barrels, and the lees (sediment at the bottom of a wine making vessel) are stirred weekly, which results in a wine with a creamy mouth feel.
St. Pepin is also used in Wollersheim’s ice wines, and in Eagle White, a semi-dry white wine available only at the winery. A portion of those proceeds are donated to eagle habitat preservation.
Five years ago, they started working with a mobile canner. “We started canned products to lower our carbon footprint,” Coquard Lenerz says. “Cans are super-recyclable and portable to take into all of our beautiful natural areas in Wisconsin.”
Hillside Harvest is one of the canned varieties. Wollersheim partnered with Ski-Hi Fruit Farm in nearby Baraboo to ferment their apples along with St. Pepin grapes. The wine is canned in spring. “It blurs the line and asks, ‘is it cider, or is it wine?’ That’s what I wanted,” she says.
To eliminate certain chemicals in the vineyard, Wollersheim implemented a steam weeding machine. It uses pressurized steam from collected rainwater. The steam shrivels the weeds, inhibiting photosynthesis. They plant radishes as cover crops to minimize soil compaction.
Coquard Lenerz realizes that her responsibilities don’t end after a batch of wine is bottled. “We’re farmers and stewards of the land,” she says. “We’re re focusing on the viniculture of our grapes. Our vision is to grow the winery slowly and authentically. Winemaking is a generations-long journey.”
For more information, visit wollersheim.com.
