I’ve often wondered if the cost spent by owners of companies who buy space on a billboard is worth it or not? Do people really read them, and better yet, do they actually pursue going to the place because they saw it on a billboard?
Well, I guess, it must be true.
Because, finally, after all these years of driving to and fro the Madison, WI area and seeing the sign for Burr Oak Winery, Mr. and I stopped there to check it out. Finally!
Their beautiful 30 acres of vines were growing in the hot sun of the day!
The Burr Oak Winery is off the beaten path (so it seemed as we drove our way there) between Mauston and New Lisbon. When we traveled our way through the town of New Lisbon, it was clear the place to be was the park where the town was celebrating some kind of summer event. We arrived at Burr Oak Winery and we were the only two people there.
It was a stark difference from the previous day where we visited the Wollersheim Winery (read more about that here). Tons of people visit WW on a daily basis, as it is the oldest and largest winery in the state. But, for those who have seen the billboard for Burr Oak Winery and have wondered if it is worth the stop, we’d say, “Heck YES!”
The manager, Terri (hope I’m spelling it correctly, and that I remembered her name!) was so welcoming and provided us with answers, lively discussions about other wineries we have visited in the state, and the Burr Oak’s own story about their winery’s history.
The tasting process was different from what we’ve experienced before at other wineries. Here you buy a glass that you’d like to keep and then you get to taste 8 of their wines. Since we didn’t own glasses this shape, we went for these.
Their estate wines are delicious. She told us that they don’t use oak barrels, but use oak chips in steel tanks. I might need to research that a bit more? Or ask Dr. B what he thinks, he’s probably already written about it, I just need to read more on his blog.
The vintages we tasted were from 2015, so it must have been a good year for the grapes because it was very pleasing to our palettes!
This YouTube video from their website does an excellent job of sharing what you’ll discover when you visit:
There was a visitor that came in after we had who said he had driven out of his way to pick up a couple of bottles of wine. He and his wife had visited before and she loved the wine so much they purchased two cases that day. He stopped again to get a couple of bottles to surprise her with. Aw…so sweet! (It could be my imagination, but I think I recognize him in the video above…!)
When I met him in the parking lot on his way out, and my way in with my camera to catch some shots, he said to ask about the historical story of the stain glass windows.
They are from a church that was sold in the 1800’s. They are gorgeous windows, and really fit the charm of the place.
So…overall what did we think about the wine? Well…we bought 6 bottles because it was all that good and we couldn’t decide on anyone as a favorite. The wine is rich and smooth tasting and didn’t have a bitterness or sourness that I’m not fond of in some wines I’ve tasted. It also wasn’t overly sweet, I’m not a sweet wine kind of gal. We came home that night and had a bottle of it to celebrate us finally stopping there!
I can’t tell you if it is normally busy or not there, but they say it is, especially on the Cranberry Fest weekend in Warrens. Women will most definitely be out discovering sales, shopping, and wine tasting – oh, yeah, I bet it is busy then.
I know we’ll stop back to Burr Oak Winery when we get a chance – Cheers!
#31SRW Photography Challenge: Table Signs (read more about the challenge here). Post also inspired by the following challenges: Norm’s Thursday Doors and Cee’s Black and White Photographs.
PS – Have you ever been to Burr Oak Winery? What did you think? How about you, have you tasted a difference in wines made in steel tanks versus oak barrels and what do you think? Do you like it or not? What about my photos, do you like the b&w or color versions? And…did you notice my reflection in one of the shots?
I didn’t visit many wineries while I’ll lived in Franklin, WI, but wish I had! I always love a winery visit.
Visiting more is on my bucket list now that the nest is empty! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’m not a wine drinker but it sure is a beautiful place!
I’m not a huge wine drinker either, I just love to taste it occasionally and check out the beauty of the wineries. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for stopping by to read the post!
My finger slipped, did my unfinished comment arrive? About oak?
No, only this comment arrived. 🙂
Oh heck, I also wrote about how we have tasted 27 wines today in Chablis here in France, 2 Sauvignon Blanc, 3 Gamay of Beaujolais and 22 unoaked Chardonnay.
I’m jealous………….! That’s one busy day!
Oh heck it was such a long comment! The gist of it was that adding oak chips is a disgusting unnatural practice, completely shunned in the traditional winemaking regions of France. Over oaking Chardonnay almost put many off Chardonnay for life until they tasted pure Chablis or Meursault for example. If oak flavour comes naturally from the barrel during ageing that’s fine, but it’s not fine to artificially add another flavour of ANYTHING!
Thank you for the information, good to know. Their wine did taste very good, but I missed the oaky taste from the barrel!
Here’s a parallel thought, Sauvignon Blanc can taste lemony and of gooseberry. This comes from the grape variety, the terroir …. mostly soil type where the grape is grown, plus the skill of the traditional winemaker. So, the lesser winemakers start to add ……….. gooseberries to the grapes ….. like it? Awful!
I would venture to say that our area isn’t the best area to grow grapes and that all of the vineyards around here add stuff to make the grapes taste better…you’re spoiled by where you can taste wines! 😉
It’s a good job I don’t live around there then! Did you know that in the 1980s Austria was found to be adding Ethylene Glycol to their wines to increase alcohol content. Ethylene Glycol is actually antifreeze!
YIKES! That’s horrible!!!!!!! Yeah, you’d likely not enjoy the wines as much due to the grape growing season’s shortness and how that limits grapes for winemaking (but we have apples…and sweet stuff to add to them LOL!), nevertheless, I would love to hear your critiques on the wines made here in our area.