By this time next year, Jon and Kerri Woelfel want to be producing and offering white wine at Woelfel Homestead just north of New Holstein.Next year’s wine would not be from their grapes, however that day is coming along with the 900 grape vines they planted in Might are occurring extremely well.”They look terrific,”Jon stated Saturday while hosting an
“open barn” for household, good friends, neighbors and other invited visitors at Woelfel Homestead, situated at W1139 Lime Kiln Rd., just off Hayton Road.In less than 6 hours, Woelfel and his team of friends and family planted an acre of grapes in several varieties. They have 2 whites, St. Pepin and LaCrescent; and three reds, Frontenac, Petite Pearl and the preferred Marquette. They also planted a couple of vines of Somerset grapes too.”I like the variety,”he said.Those grapes will not be ready for wine production next year, however Jon stated he can purchase grapes from other growers and after that produce the white wine in the production shed they have actually begun to renovate on the farm. It will be a good tune-up for where Jon said they wish to be 5 years from now– producing 1,000 cases of red wine each year from 5 acres of grapes.”That’s manageable,”he said.Jon is barely new to wine making. Although he was raised dealing with the farm of parents Roger and Cathy, he went out to California’s white wine country for 15 years
.”Slowly I’m hearing about these other wineries appearing in Wisconsin,”he stated. The University of Minnesota has actually been a leader in developing winter-hardy varieties of grapes for cold-weather regions, and more varieties are being established all the time. The plants the Woelfels put in last spring are from a nursery in Vermont– no complete stranger to winter weather.Jon stated the Woelfel Homestead kept calling him to come back house and– with encouragement from family– that is what they did about a year and a half earlier. Jon stated he is getting reacclimated to Wisconsin winters.
That is a taller job for Kerri, who is originally from Louisiana.Together they have a vision for making Woelfel Homestead a premier ag tourism location in northeast Wisconsin. “Kerri has a really strong vision of growing more food on the land, “Jon stated. While leading a tour on Saturday, Kerri mentioned rows of fruit trees which have actually currently been planted. They may include bees to the farm eventually for honey, and Jon said they will be partnering with a buddy who will raise sheep on the property.Next year the Woelfels will be getting chickens. That will mark a go back to a time when the farm constantly had chickens and the existing structure by a manufactured pond served as the chicken cage. Today an indication which states”Woelfel Pond Resort”is on the side of the structure, and inside is grandfather Linus’s beer can collection which will remain put.Jon’s moms and dads have actually already been running Woelfel Homestead as a wedding/event center for numerous years, and the next generation has plans to broaden that. They already have actually been busy this year making additions and changes to the main barn, including washrooms. The wood for the restroom walls came off a house which was being taken apart just down the road.Jon said the barn can be utilized from May to October and their goal would be to have an event every weekend. It also can act as a white wine tasting location, with a smaller, year-round white wine tasting room planned for the heated shed.They have actually transformed the previous milk home into a little bridal suite with its own toilet. Other modifications to the property have been and will be made as Jon and Kerri continue to work toward taking the already beautiful residential or commercial property and making it into the place of their dreams.