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Prairie Fumé from the Wollersheim Winery - Where there's cheese, there's bound to be wine.....Mar 20 '06 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line And you thought we only made beer! Imagine, if you will, two scenes. In the first there gathers a group of wine lovers. Each with his or her particular favorites as far as winery and vintage, they share in the abundant delights to be found in a truly wonderful wine. In the second there gathers a group of women, intent on an evening shooting dice and drinking whatever wine is poured into their glass. Now, guess to which group I belong….. That’s right! I’m firmly camped in the wine swilling group #2. Yet….I know what I like when it comes to a glass of wine to be swilled. Not all “everyday” wines are equal. My particular favorite is not only inexpensive enough for an evening of lowbrow entertainment with friends, but also an excellent table wine for those evenings when a glass of wine sounds just right with your macaroni and cheese. While probably not world renowned for fermented beverages other than the high and mighty Beer, Wisconsin is home to at least one small, delightful winery. The Wollersheim Winery is located outside of the small town of Prairie du Sac in South Central Wisconsin. It’s a quaint and rustic little winery without pretension on a beautiful, historic piece of land. Without question, the most popular wine to come out of this charming little vineyard is a very nice white, called Prairie Fumé. Wollersheim describes the wine thusly: Crisp, fresh, semi-dry white bursting with citrus and tropical fruit highlights. Awarded Double-Gold and Best of Class in 2004 and named #5 of Top 100 Wines East of the Rockies. Now, there are times when I take great issue with how a wine is described by the winery and how it tastes in my glass (I once saw a description including the disturbing assertion that the wine had a taste like the upholstery in a vintage Citroen. No, I’m not kidding). In fact, most of the time - and this is no different. You’ll not find Prairie Fumé bursting with anything, particularly tropical fruit highlights. What you will get is a crisp, slightly sweet, slightly tart and mildly fruity wine with just enough zing to keep it from being dull. In my experience, inexpensive semi-dry white wines are highly variable beasts. Many are either too dry or too sweet, with a precious few striking just the right balance to deserve the label “crisp”. Prairie Fumé is one of the few, standing above its category compatriots. It’s best served well chilled, it loses much of its appeal if allowed to get warm. As for the awards proclaimed by Wollersheim for this wine, I have no idea. They may be prestigious, they may mean nothing. It doesn’t really matter one bit – Prairie Fumé is consistently good and well suited to any number of occasions. The wine isn’t sweet enough to be a dessert wine, or robust enough to stand up to heavy meals. It’s light, suited well to light meals, hor’s d’oeuvres, or shooting the breeze (or the dice). Not so much a wine to be savored sip by sip, Prairie Fumé is simply an excellent table wine, with a price tag to match. At less than ten dollars a bottle (depending where and how you get it, you can pay as little as $7.00 per bottle), it is indeed the excellent bargain the winery touts it to be. A couple of notes about the Wollersheim Winery. This is a wonderful, unpretentious place that offers tours, tastings and most years, a fall grape stomp. There is a particular air of family about this place; no guest is ever made to feel unsophisticated due to a lack of knowledge of wines or wine making. The tours educate as well as show off the techniques, location and improvements to the property of which the owners are rightfully very proud. It’s a very nice, low key and inviting tourist destination, without many of the tacky traps associated with the term. They also have something called a “Caseclub”, which provides discounts to those who purchase a specified number of bottles (or more) per year. This, we have found, is a terrific deal in that it gets us up there a couple of times a year to see what they have that’s new and inviting (they also have a nice White Riesling that’s one of our favorites) as well as keeping us well stocked in table wine and wines that are perfect to bring along to casual social occasions. They stock a relatively large variety of wines for such a small location, each time we visit we manage to pick up at least one bottle of something new or something we’ve simply overlooked in the past. All in all it’s a lovely spot with a whole host of positive attributes that keep us coming back time and again. To be honest, I have no idea how widely available Wollersheim wines are outside of Wisconsin. They do, however, ship to a number of states. If you’ve gotten a chance to visit and like what you find, it may well be worth it to consider that as an option if the wine is not available in your area. For a peek at the winery itself and what they have to offer, take a look at their website: http://www.wollersheim.com/ So. If you too are a wine swiller rather than a wine connoisseur (or if, perhaps, you’re both depending on the occasion) Wollersheim’s Prairie Fumé is an excellent choice as a gossip/dice throwing/card playing/no excuse needed get together kind of wine. So go ahead and get out those 12 oz. wine glasses that you know you have hidden behind the fine crystal and enjoy! Thanks go to prfstars who encouraged me to write this review. Please check out her wonderful wine reviews for a look at the sumptuous and elegant art of wine.  |
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