WISCONSIN — Growing berries for wine in Wisconsin certainly is not easy, and some growers said they were having better luck than others.


What You Need To Know

  • Some Wisconsin wineries are being challenged with extreme temperatures. Some are fairing better than others

  • Red grape production was mostly unscathed but fluctuating temps and frost did a number on some farmers' berry crops
  • Wollersheim Winery and Distillery lost 95% of their red grapes

While opening a bottle of his crowd-favorite, "Snazzberry," Frank Peregrine smiled.

The Cambridge Winery owner said he was proud of what his nearly decade-old winery could produce and poured himself a glass of the Wisconsin red “Petite Pearl.”

“It’s a nice wine,” he said as he savored a long sip.

Peregrine said to keep his wine nice this year, he protected his grapevine in a new way.

“We pruned back rather aggressively to get new cordons to grow this year,” he said.

“Pruning is incredibly important,” Wisconsin Grape Growers Association President Craig Carpenter said.

He said it’s one of the steps that can stimulate new growth.

But not everyone has had such a good growing season.

“It’s a challenge, you know, Phillipe at Wollersheim, he lost all his reds,” Carpenter said.

Wollersheim’s owner Philippe Coquard put up a video on Facebook showing off his 95% loss of red berries along the rows in his Prairie du Sac vineyards.

“He basically had the same temps I did. We don’t know why it happened there and not here,” Carpenter said.

Fortunately Carpenter said most Wisconsin wineries so far are not reporting similar wine woes following frost and temperature fluctuations.

“That’s a struggle though when you grow wine in Wisconsin,” he said.

Carpenter added that it was likely Wollersheim Winery and Distillery would source its red berries through other state growers and nearby farmer friends.

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