Wollersheim Winery

About Winery and Wines

Wollersheim Winery sits on a scenic hillside across the Wisconsin River from Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. In the 1840s, the Hungarian nobleman Agoston Haraszthy discovered the sloped land where the winery sits today, and planted it with grapevines. During his short time in Wisconsin, Haraszthy also incorporated the state’s first town, Sauk City. In December of 1849, he followed the gold rush to California, where he also had a hand in developing the state’s wine industry. Peter Kehl, a German immigrant, took over the property after Haraszthy left, building the structures that still stand today, and planting American grapes to make wine. After Peter Kehl’s death, his son Jacob continued the family winery and started making brandy. In 1899, after Jacob Kehl’s death and a difficult winter, the Kehl family stopped making wine and converted the property into a conventional Wisconsin farm. When Prohibition passed in 1919, remaining wine was sold, and leftover barrels were used as firewood. The Kehl family stayed on the property for two more generations. In 1972, Robert and JoAnn Wollersheim bought the farm from Peter Kehl’s great-grandson to restore it to a working winery. They planted the hills with grapevines, furnished the limestone cellars with oak barrels and converted the old carriage house into a store. Philippe Coquard arrived at the winery from the Beaujolais region of France in 1984, on an agricultural exchange. Coquard—who comes from a long family history of vintners, and has degrees in winemaking, viticulture and wine-marketing—became Wollersheim Winery’s winemaker in 1985. The family legacy continues in Philippe and his wife, Julie, Bob and JoAnn’s oldest daughter, who now run the winery.